The Chronicles of Valyria, Book 1 Resurrection
by Medieval Maniak
Summary: The Greatest Empire the world has ever known fell 400 years ago, and with it the only force capable of stopping the White Walkers. With Valyria turning to myth, mankind's ancient enemy grows in strength and number. To stop them, the Old Gods send their champions to rebuild Valyria and use its might to give mankind a chance of survival. Was previously named, The Angels in Westeros.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone,

This is my second story and a continuation from the first story. It plays in the world of a Game of Thrones, but will focus on my own main characters, with a lot of cannon characters.

The first part of this story will consist of several arcs, the first will be the end and aftermath of Robert's Rebellion and what happens in the realm of Westeros when Rhaegar wins at the Trident.

The second will be about the resurrection of Valyria and all that it will entail.

The third and final arc of this part will be ensuring the safety of the newly rebuild Valyria.

My main information comes from the HBO series, as I haven't read the books yet though they're on my list, and from my edition of, _The World of Ice and Fire_ encyclopedia.

Expect to see a lot of character from the series and a few that only appear in the books, but for the book lovers, they might be completely different than you know them.

I have changed the name of this story as I thought it didn't really fit anymore with what I was writing. I hope you all approve, if not please let me know. Previous name was, The Angels in Westeros.

Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1, Resurrection

283 AC

On the southern shore of the Trident, loyalist camp.

Crown-prince Rhaegar Targaryan was walking along the shores of the Trident, his head was filled with worry for the woman he loved. She was the whole reason this war was fought. In hindsight it seemed to him that the gods were a cruel bunch, allowing the suffering of so many just because of a conflict between three people.

He could hear his two guards, Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Jonothor Darry, they were following him in silence while their thoughts drifted to the coming battle. Despite the 10,000 Dornish troops that had arrived yesterday, they were still greatly outnumbered by the rebels.

Making a quick list in his head, Rhaegar came to the same conclusion as when they had arrived at the Trident four days ago. His own army was 40,000 strong, add to that the 10,000 Dornish and they had 50,000 loyalist troops.

The rebels on the other hand were comprised of the entire force of the North, 30,000. The Vale, 25,000. The Riverlands 20,000. and half the Stormlands, 10,000, for a grand total of 85,000 rebel troops.

If he was honest with himself, Rhaegar had to admit that he feared he wouldn't live to see the birth of his third child. Despite his own prowess in combat, most of his forces were fresh levies, while the rebels were mostly comprised of battle-hardened veterans.

After a few more minutes he suddenly bumped into a large solid object and after shaking his head to clear his thoughts he realized he had walked head-first into an old weirwood tree. He never really cared that much about the old religion but in his desperation he took it as a sign.

He motioned for Barristan and Jonothor to halt while he knelt before the ancient white tree. He placed both his hands with the palms on either side of the face on the tree and spoke in silence. ' _I do not know if anyone is listening, but if you are, please hear my plea. I'm begging you, give me a way to end this war without more bloodshed._

 _If I have seen the signs, then surely you must have seen them as well, the long night is coming again and when it comes, the White Walkers will come with it. We need every man that can fight, and this civil war is nothing but senseless bloodshed. So please, give me a way to end this war.'_

Suddenly the three men were shocked to see the ancient tree catch fire. Rhaegar quickly stood up and retreated back to where his two guards were standing. Large blasts of ruby-red and sapphire-blue fire were consuming the tree until it suddenly and violently exploded.

The three men were temporarily blinded and their ears were ringing. It took half a minute for their ears to stop ringing and their vision to slowly return.

"Ohh my head. I fucking hate dimensional travel." An unfamiliar metallic voice could be heard from within the roaring red and blue flames that covered the place where the weirwood tree had stood.

A second metallic voice could be heard answering the first. "Yea, I know love, I wonder where those wankers sent us this time."

"I have no idea but judging by the armor, I'd say it's somewhere medieval."

"I just hope they're at least a little bit emancipated here, I don't want to go through that whole, equal rights thing again."

The three men shared confused looks before turning back to the fire. Unlike before they could now see two silhouettes in the flames. They appeared to be seated on the ground and seemed not at all bothered by the fire.

"He..hello, is someone there?" Ser Jonothor asked hesitantly.

They couldn't see it clearly but all three men were sure they saw a flash of deep black fire before the flames suddenly died down. In the place of the old weirwood tree, now having stood up, where two tall figures, both were clad entirely in heavy armor, silver-colored mail covered by heavy black steel plate. The shoulder plates were covered by rows of inch long silver-colored spikes, and so where their greaves and vambraces. Protecting their necks was a three-inch-high collar attached to their breastplates and going over their shoulders to their backs. Over it all they wore thick, black, fur cloaks and all in all they stood around 7 feet tall.

Both were armed to the teeth, Rhaegar saw the hilts of two, hand-and-a-half swords, one over both their shoulders, one short-sword on their left hips, two long daggers on their right hips and a series of knife-hilts stuck from their armored boots. Both were leaning on the handle of large, black, battle axes with massive curved blades on one side and a 12-inch-long pick on the other side as well as one on top.

While the three men were staring at the armored figures, they both turned their helmeted heads towards them and they could see that they covered their entire faces. The helmets were engraved and inlaid with silver, forming a snarling dragon head, whose lower jaw could be opened to remove the faceplate. A crown of 3-inch-long spikes went all around the dome of their heads and a thick silver horse-hair tail hung down over their backs.

"Oi Blondie-bear, if you're done gaping would you mind telling us where the fuck we are?" The first voice they had heard spoke again, coming from the person on the left.

Both Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor stepped forward with their hands on their hilts and Ser Barristan growled, "You are speaking to the crown-prince of the realm and you will show him the respect he deserves, or else we will teach you some respect."

Their helmets made it impossible to see but Rhaegar would swear that he could hear the two figures sigh before the one on the right said in an exasperated tone, "Relax grandpa, you'd be dead before you could even draw that fancy sword of yours so don't bother trying."

Ser Barristan obviously wanted to retort but Rhaegar stopped him with a raised hand and stepped forward. "You are in Westeros, in the Riverlands to be precise, on the banks of the Trident. But might I inquire who you are?"

Both figures were silent for a while until the one on the right asked, "Are you the one that asked for our help?"

Rhaegar looked a little confused but before he could ask anything, the figure spoke again. "Are you the one that prayed to the Old Gods for help?"

At this Rhaegar nodded silently, not believing what he was hearing.

"That is very good," said the first figure before both took off their helmets.

To the utter astonishment of all three men, silken, waist-long hair flew from under the helmets and beautiful faces were revealed to them. They were both women!

The figure that had spoken first, was a woman who had long flowing ruby-red hair, tinged with locks of pitch black. She had a heart-shaped face with a certain hardened look in her sapphire-blue eyes that screamed 'Warrior'.

The other woman had equally long, silver hair, with locks of sapphire blue. Her face was more elegant than the other's and her emerald eyes spoke of a kindness one would expect from a healer, though he had no doubt she would be equally skilled with the weapons she carried as the other woman.

The black haired women spoke again, "My name is Aurora and my partner's name is Gabrielle and you could say we are the gods' problem solvers."

"So… so you're saying that you are gods?" asked Ser Jonothor with a little disbelief in his voice.

Both woman burst out laughing and Gabrielle said, "Very flattering, but no we are not gods, we are the ones _they_ send when shit goes to hell."

The three men stared gaping at them until Rhaegar asked, "But if you're not gods, then what are you? Because you are obviously not human."

Aurora raised her heavily armored right hand and removed the gauntlet from her surprisingly elegant hand, before slowly approaching Rhaegar. "May I have your hand; it will help me explain things."

Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor obviously didn't like the idea of this strange woman touching their prince but before they could object Rhaegar had removed his own leather glove and with a little hesitation grasped the offered hand.

In the span of thirty seconds he relived his entire life and everything he had ever known was played before his eyes. Afterwards he received a flood of memories from Aurora, he would never speak to anyone of what he saw, but he never forgot.

When Aurora released his hand, Rhaegar fell on his knees and when Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor rushed to his side they saw a look in his eyes that they had longed to see for many months, hope.

Tears of hope and joy were running down his cheeks while he sat on his knees before Aurora. Looking up to her face he whispered, "Can it really be true?"

With a promising grin she said, "Aye, we'll teach those rebels why it's unwise to challenge a dragon. However, if what you showed me is true, we can resolve this conflict without much bloodshed."

Now the three men looked interested, though they were all very accomplished warriors, none liked to take the lives of others if it could be avoided.

Over the next half hour Aurora and Gabrielle explained their plan and Rhaegar accepted their idea, though with a little hesitation.

When everyone had agreed, the small group split up, Rhaegar and Ser Jonothor went back to the camp, while Ser Barristan left with the two women to do their part of the preparations.

The next morning came and with it the day that would decide the future of the seven kingdoms.

Lord Eddard Stark, more commonly known as Ned, was walking towards the war council accompanied by three of his most powerful banner men, the Greatjon Umber, Galbart Glover, and Roose Bolton.

Despite his fierce friendship with Robert, Lord Eddard couldn't help but have his doubts about what Robert had told them. On the one hand, it was a proven fact that Robert was absolutely smitten with his sister Lyanna. But on the other hand it was equally obvious that Lyanna was not particularly enamored by Robert. So Robert's claim that Lyanna had been stolen from him on the eve of their wedding was a little shaky.

However, there was no doubt in Eddard's mind on the guilt of the Targaryans in the deaths of his father and elder brother, and by the Old Gods he would make them pay for it.

They reached the large tent of Robert Baratheon where they met the other leaders of their combined army. Arriving at the same time was Lord Hoster Tully, accompanied by Lord Tytos Blackwood and the man's personal rival, Lord Jonos Bracken.

Already present were Robert and several other commanders, Lord Jon Arryn who is accompanied by Lord Yohn Royce, and by Hoster's younger brother, Ser Brynden the Blackfish. Once everyone was seated around the table Robert began the meeting.

"My Lords, today is the day of my vengeance, and I would like to thanks you all for being here and standing with me on this glorious day." A round of cheers went around the table though Eddard saw that he was not the only one who didn't cheer, both Jon Arryn and Brynden likewise remained quiet.

"I think we can all agree that today should be an easy victory, we greatly outnumber those Targaryan scum, and our men are all battle hardened, whereas theirs are fresh recruits. However, I urge you all to advise your men not to become overconfident, as we never know what tricks that dragon-spawn might have thought out to use against us. I reserve the right to kill that dragon-spawn myself and woe onto him who dares to take that right from me."

Before he could go into a rant about what he wanted to do to Rhaegar, Eddard interrupted him saying, "Yes Robert I know you hate the man, but I believe it is wiser to start devising our battle plan, dawn has already come and my scouts have told me that the Targaryan host is taking up battle positions on the other bank, whether they intend to cross I don't know but if I was Rhaegar I would wait on the other bank and strike while we were crossing the fort, which, I'm afraid is the only way for us to attack him directly. "

"Then that's what we'll do," said Robert, his voice filled with a lust for battle. "I'll take 5,000 of my own man and storm the crossing with the vanguard, the rest will stay behind as reserve. Ned, you take your men and follow directly behind me in the centre. Jon, you take your men and try to circle around on them on the right flank. While you, Hoster, do the same on the left. With any luck we'll trap them between us and destroy them completely."

Crude as the plan was, Eddard had no choice but to agree, as it offered the most chance of success. The finer details were quickly hammered out and fifteen minutes later the rebel army was moving to take its positions on the northern bank of the Trident.

When taking into account the bulk of their army, it surprised Eddard that it only took them an hour and a half to completely form up. Just when Eddard, Robert, Jon and Hoster were getting ready to get to their respective units, they spotted movement on the other bank of the river.

A single rider was sent across the ford, he was dressed like a Kingsguard and carried a large white flag to indicate his function as a messenger. Eddard, Robert, Jon and Hoster rode down to the ford to meet the messenger and Eddard recognized Ser Jonothor Darry of the Kingsguard.

When they were about three yards apart, Ser Jonothor spoke, "I bring word from the Crown-Prince Rhaegar Targaryan, he invites the Lords, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn and Hoster Tully to meet him in private as there has been a development that would solve this conflict between us without bloodshed."

Robert growled in answer, "We will not meet that dragon-spawn anywhere but on the field of battle, where I will crush him beneath my hammer."

Ser Jonothor was not disturbed by the threats and responded with a cold voice, "The invitation was not aimed at you, Lord Oath breaker, but only at your companions who you have deceived. My lord the Prince has given his word of honor that no harm will come to you, and you will be free to leave at any moment you so desire."

Before Robert could respond, Jon Arryn spoke up, "I will accept the invitation. I would hear with my own ears the reasons Rhaegar had to abduct the Lady Lyanna Stark."

Eddard spoke next and said, "Aye, I will accept as well, it was my house that was insulted the most by his actions so I will hear his reasons for myself."

"I will accept as well," Hoster Tully said, "I have always known Rhaegar to be an honorable man and I will trust him to guarantee our safety."

Robert could only sputter when he heard his allies accept the invitation and with a snort he turned his charger around and galloped back to the rebel lines.

Eddard, Jon and, Hoster followed Ser Jonothor across the ford and he led them past the loyalist lines towards a large pavilion that flew the Targaryan banner above it.

When they entered the pavilion they were surprised to see that no less than six members of the Kingsguard were present in the pavilion, the Sers, Gerold Hightower, Jonothor Darry, Barristan Selmy, Oswell Whent, Arthur Dayne, and Prince Lewyn Martell. Only the young Jaime Lannister was not present.

Once the three lords were seated, a servant came by with wine and water and after he left again, Rhaegar entered the tent. The prince was dressed in a beautiful set of pitch-black armor decorated with a ruby dragon on the chest plate. The prince seated himself across from the three lords and let out a deep sigh before he started to talk.

"My lords, I have asked you to come here to explain my reasoning for leaving with Lyanna. Contrary to what Robert has no doubt told you, I did not kidnap her. Lyanna begged me to take her with me when I last visited Winterfell, because we love each other and Robert threatened to force her to marry him against her will, even though her father gave us his blessing and dissolved the engagement contract with Robert."

Before Eddard or either of the other lords could respond, Rhaegar raised his hand and added, "I don't expect you to take my word for it, you can ask it Lyanna herself."

When Barristan followed the two women into the woods he wondered how they were planning to get all the way to the Tower of Joy and back. He didn't know of a single creature that could travel the more than two-thousand miles they would have to travel, in a single night.

When they finally arrived on a large clearing in the woods, Gabrielle turned towards him and said, "What you are about to see is not to be spoken about to _anyone,_ not even your fellow Kingsguards _,_ besides you, only Rhaegar knows this."

As to answer Barristan's confused expression, Aurora rolled her heavily armored shoulders and suddenly she seemed to grow at an extremely fast pace. She fell down on all fours and large leathery wings sprouted from her back. Her hands and feet changed into massive claws with 3-foot-long talons on each finger. Her neck stretched out till it was long and thick and her head turned into the snarling head of a dragon, with teeth the size of long swords.

When her transformation was complete, Aurora rose from the ground and shook her immense body. To Barristan, who had seen the skull of Balerion the Black Dread, she seemed to be at least the equal in size, if not bigger, and much more heavily built, than the stories told about the mount of Aegon the Conqueror.

The dragon was covered from snout to tail in thick, overlapping scales, the biggest were the size of a round-shield. The tail was covered is smaller scales but the very end was covered in long spikes so it could be used as an extremely dangerous mace to injure other large animals, or eviscerate humans.

Overall he estimated her to be more than 270 feet from head to tail and her look was one of beauty and savagery. Barristan didn't doubt that the dragon was more than capable of destroying their entire army on her own.

In the weak light of the late twilight he was just able to see that the coloration was deep red, the same as her hair, and pitch black around the spine. Not a trace of the weapons or the armor she had worn as a human could be found, but he suspected it was because the scales were harder than the hardest armor and the claws were deadlier than any sword.

Taking a small, folded bag from her belt, Gabrielle placed it on the ground and folded it open to reveal a cavernous opening easily the size of large wagon. From its depths she pulled a large saddle, capable of carrying multiple people and started putting it on Aurora's neck, just above her shoulders and around her front legs.

When she was done, Gabrielle motioned for Barristan to approach and handed him a fur lined, closed, metal helmet with small eye-slits, and a thick fur cloak. "Put these on, it gets very cold at the altitude and speed we will be flying."

Barristan did as he was told and soon after was helped to climb a rope onto the saddle, which hung roughly 30 feet above the ground and was strapped securely in place so he wouldn't fall of mid-flight.

When they were both strapped in securely, Aurora rose from the ground and jumped into the air where she unfurled her wings and very quickly rose into the night sky.

Barely fifteen minutes into their flight, Barristan dared a single look towards the ground and saw that the ground was flying under them faster than he could ever imagine. To his surprise he could see the southern shore of the Gods Eye below them and a soft light in the far distance to their left indicated the position of King's Landing.

Just three hours after they left, Barristan could see the shapes of the red mountains of Dorne rising up before them on the left and right, with The Prince's pass straight ahead of them.

It surprised Barristan that Aurora knew where to go, as Rhaegar had not mentioned it to her but when he asked Gabrielle she yelled over the howling wind, "When she held hands with Rhaegar, she copied all of his memories and gave him some of our own, it is the easiest way for us to tell someone what they need to know, and also to find out if someone is trustworthy or lying."

In the dark of midnight, they landed close to the Tower of Joy and Gabrielle unrolled the rope to allow herself and Barristan to return to solid ground. When they were off, Aurora rolled herself up to rest for as long as she could before they would have to fly back.

Barristan led Gabrielle towards the tower above them until they were stopped by a voice in the night, "HALT, WHO GOES THERE?"

Before he could answer, there came a second, female, voice from the same direction and Barristan recognized it as Gabrielle's, "I could ask you the same, now drop that sword, or I'll drop your head."

Barristan looked surprised behind him to see that Gabrielle had vanished, despite the immensely heavy armor she wore, she could move as silent and as quickly as a cat.

Two torches were lit and Barristan saw his fellow Kingsguards, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent, who both held a torch and were pointing their swords at Gabrielle. Who in turn held Ser Gerold Hightower's hair with her left hand, while her right hand held the massive axe with the blade touching Ser Gerold's throat.

"Peace, we're friends," Barristan quickly said and to Gabrielle he added, "The man you are holding is Ser Gerold Hightower, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and a good friend of Rhaegar."

Gabrielle quickly released the man and calmly apologized to him, "I'm sorry for that, but you can't be too careful in these dangerous times."

She calmly walked back to Barristan and stood beside him, completely ignoring the now, three, swords that were aimed at her. "What is the meaning of this, Ser Barristan?" asked the Lord Commander. "Who is this woman and why are you here? And not at the Trident at Prince Rhaegar's side, as was your duty."

Barristan calmly answered him saying, "I came here on orders of Prince Rhaegar, and I was at the Trident not four hours ago. This woman was sent to us by mysterious ways, but Rhaegar trusts her and we have been ordered to bring Princess Lyanna to the Trident in an attempt to end the rebellion without more bloodshed. It is the hope of our prince that the Lords, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully will bow the knee and join us when they hear the true reason of Robert Baratheon's rebellion."

Lord Commander Gerold Hightower nodded once in acceptance of his words and turned to Gabrielle, "May I have your name my Lady?"

Gabrielle gave him a gentle smile and answered, "My name is Gabrielle, but you won't know the house I come from so I won't bother explaining it to you. Suffice to say that I lived for a long time in the ruins of Old Valyria with my partner, whom you will meet once we rejoin Prince Rhaegar at the Trident in a few hours."

At this Ser Oswell Whent scoffed and said on a very disrespectful tone, "Are you seriously that stupid to actually think you can travel from here to the Trident in a few hours? You dumb wench, that journey would take at least two weeks on horseback and besides..."

Before he could say anymore, the ground around them started to shake as a very loud and very angry growl came from the valley floor far below them and Gabrielle said with a dark grin to the four white faced Kingsguards, "That would be the way we are going to travel to the Trident, Ser Oswell. And unless you want to meet Rhaegar as a mute, I suggest you keep your tongue to yourself, lest I remove it."

"What… what was that?" Asked Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, with a shaking voice.

With the same dark grin Gabrielle replied, "That was my oldest friend and battle companion, you'll meet her shortly. Now Ser Barristan, shall we get what we came for, as we are on a tight schedule, we have to be back at the Trident before dawn to avoid being seen."

Barristan nodded once while his still white-faced brethren sheathed their swords and walked back towards the tower above them, careful to keep a distance from the strange, but awe inspiring woman.

When they reached the tower the Lord Commander unlocked the door and led them all in before locking it again behind them. Ser Arthur Dayne let them up the stairs towards the topmost room and knocked three times.

A soft and gentle voice answered and asked, "Who is it?"

"It is me, Princess, Ser Arthur Dayne. May we enter, Ser Barristan has arrived with news from Prince Rhaegar."

They could hear a soft rustling as someone climbed out of a bed and ran towards the door and judging by the sounds, removed a thick beam that was keeping it closed. The door opened to reveal a young woman, barely sixteen years old. She was dressed in a loose fitting white sleep dress that didn't completely cover the bump that showed she was roughly halfway through her pregnancy.

"Oh boy," sighed Gabrielle as she saw Lyanna's swollen belly, "I do hope Rhaegar realizes the complications of this when Ned sees you, I do not think he's going to be happy about this."

Lyanna looked wide eyed at this strange woman who looked exactly like she would imagine from a warrior goddess of legend. She stood stock still as she gaped at the strange armor and the beautiful face that rose from between the spiked shoulders.

"Who… who are you?" she asked softly while folding her hands protectively over her swollen tummy.

Gabrielle gave her a soft smile and replied, "My name is Gabrielle, I come from the ruins of Old Valyria where I have lived for a long time with my partner whom you'll meet later. But for now I have come to bring you back to Rhaegar, as your presence is required in order to resolve this civil war without further bloodshed."

Lyanna looked hesitantly towards Ser Barristan and when he nodded to indicate she had spoken the truth, Lyanna turned back to Gabrielle and asked, "Are we leaving in the morning then?"

Gabrielle softly shook her head and said, "No princess, we are leaving in ten minutes, we have to be at the Trident before dawn, if we are to be successful. Pack everything you own, as we are not leaving anything behind."

Lyanna looked aghast and sputtered, "But how do you expect us to reach the Trident before dawn? It is over a thousand miles from here to there."

Gabrielle grinned softly and said mysteriously, "You'll see, but I suggest you dress very warmly, it'll be cold on the journey and we don't want you getting sick."

Lyanna did as she was told and while the three other Kingsguards gathered their own possessions from the floor below, Barristan packed most of Lyanna's possessions, while Gabrielle helped her to dress warmly.

When they were all done Gabrielle led them away from the tower and they descended the path she and Barristan had taken up not fifteen minutes before. When they approached the last curve before they could see the valley beneath them, Gabrielle stopped and turned to face her companions, "I must warn you three, don't be alarmed and don't draw any weapons, she doesn't like that very much."

The three Kingsguards nodded once while Barristan helped Lyanna down from a particularly high step. They crossed the curve in the road and the four new members of their group went pale as corpses. Aurora's massive dragon head hung before them and by the looks she aimed at Ser Oswell, she had not yet forgiven him for the insults he had given Gabrielle.

The upper lip of the dragon rose a fraction of an inch and a tiny jet of ruby red fire escaped her lips. It hit Ser Oswell's helm crest and it was instantly turned to ashes. The loudmouthed member of the Kingsguard fainted in fear and Lyanna asked shakily, "Wha… wha… what is that?"

Gabrielle grinned softly again and said, "That, princess, is a _real_ dragon, not one of those half-breeds the Valerians used. She will get us to the Trident in a matter of hours. Now we need to hurry as even she will take a few hours to get there and its already past midnight."

They swiftly made their way down to the valley floor, after Gabrielle had slapped Ser Oswell a few times to wake him up. Gabrielle handed them all a similar helm as Ser Barristan had worn before and helped them to climb the rope and settle in the saddle on Aurora's shoulders.

When Ser Oswell climbed the rope Aurora lowered her head to his height and looked at him intensely with a large sapphire-blue eye, causing him to quickly climb up the rope and hide behind Ser Arthur Dayne. Once they were all strapped in tightly, Gabrielle in front, with Ser Barristan behind her, followed by Ser Gerold, Lyanna, Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell, Aurora stood up, unfurled her wings and jumped into the sky.

The return journey took longer because Aurora flew a different path to avoid a few of the larger towns they had encountered on their way towards the tower. It was roughly at the height of King's Landing, that Aurora noticed something that needed further inquiring.

A-hundred-and-fifty miles west from King's Landing, they came upon the burned ruins of a very large encampment, which were still smoldering.

Flying as low as she dared, Aurora allowed her riders to see the destruction that was wrought. By the light of the smoldering tents they could see thousands upon thousands of dead soldiers. Most were dressed in different shades of green, but a fair number wore red and gold.

Seeing as there was not a living soul within miles, Aurora landed besides the ruin of a large, smoldering, green and gold pavilion.

Gabrielle unbuckled herself and Ser Barristan, but told the others to stay put, "We don't know if anything is still out here and I need you, to stay safe princess." The others nodded and Gabrielle let herself slide over the side and dropped with a heavy THUNK on the ground, thirty feet below her.

Ser Barristan followed her by means of the rope. With weapons drawn they entered the pavilion and saw a single banner, fallen over a large chair. It depicted a golden rose on a field of green and Ser Barristan swore when he saw it.

Turning quickly to her companion Gabrielle asked, "Do you know who's that is?"

Ser Barristan nodded sadly and replied, "I do, that is the banner of House Tyrell. Their lord, Lord Mace Tyrell had been ordered by Prince Rhaegar to protect King's Landing, it would appear that they were attacked during the night and never reached the capital. This bodes ill, because there is only one Lord that has the manpower to defeat the Tyrell host, and we had hoped him to remain neutral in this war, Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock.

The presence of dead Lannister soldiers proves that, but there is nothing we can do right now. I just hope that the Tyrell host is not completely destroyed and they somehow make their way to King's Landing, before Tywin Lannister does."

They quickly headed back to their companions and retook their seats on Aurora's saddle. When they were strapped in again Ser Gerold asked, "What happened here?"

With a grave voice Ser Barristan replied, "Tywin Lannister has declared his true colors. It appears as though the Lannister army has smashed the Tyrell host and we can only hope that Lord Mace can re-gather his men and make it to King's Landing in time to save the city from the Lannisters."

It was a subdued group that flew away from the site of the massacre and they completed their journey in silence before they landed in the same clearing from which they had departed. When they were all safely on the ground, Gabrielle removed the saddle and stored it back in the pouch from which it came, along with the helmets and fur cloaks she had lent to the others.

When they saw the small pouch being opened up into a cavernous size, Ser Gerold asked, "How is that possible?"

With an amused grin Gabrielle answered with a single word, "Magic."

They left Aurora in the clearing and made their way towards the pavilion of Rhaegar that stood in the centre of the loyalist camp. They walked slowly as to not arouse suspicion and before long they were overtaken by Aurora, who was in human form again.

Gabrielle introduced her with the words, "I would like you to meet my _partner_ , Aurora. My love, I'd like you to meet, Princess Lyanna, and the Sers, Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent."

Aurora gave Ser Oswell a suspicious look with her sapphire-blue eyes but shook his hand none the less, though she did squeeze a little harder than was required.

Now complete, they made their way towards Rhaegar's pavilion where they found the prince already waiting for them. He was studying a map of the surrounding area with Ser Jonothor and Prince Lewyn Martell. When they heard the newcomers enter the pavilion, they all looked op and Rhaegar said softly "Lya," before rushing over to her and taking her into his arms.

They hugged each other fiercely and Rhaegar claimed her lips in a passionate kiss. When they withdrew from their kiss Rhaegar looked down on Lyanna's swollen belly and asked softly, "How are you holding up?"

"We're both doing fine love, don't worry about us, you just concentrate on destroying that lying piece of filth Robert Baratheon."

Rhaegar grinned softly at Lyanna's words and kissed her again before saying, "That is one of the reasons I love you so much. No matter what happens, you always know what to say to cheer me up."

Before Rhaegar and Lyanna could become too preoccupied by their reunion, Gabrielle cleared her throat and said, "I hate to break up the happy reunion, but we have a serious problem. On our way back here we came across the ruins of a great camp, the Tyrell host has been smashed by Tywin Lannister and the old Lion is marching on King's Landing as we speak."

Rhaegar paled and muttered, "Elia, Rhaenys."

Gabrielle put a soft hand on his shoulder and said, "You are not alone in this Rhaegar, if needed, Aurora and I can be at the capital in a matter of hours, and once we are there, _no one_ will take that city. But first we need to resolve this situation with Robert, before we can deal with Tywin Lannister."

Eddard Stark froze when he heard Rhaegar's words, was his sister really here, was she so close? His question was answered when a flap of the pavilion's walls was opened and Lyanna entered, she was flanked by two armored behemoths, both over 7 feet tall, and wore a beautiful gown, in red and white. To his surprise he noticed that her belly was swollen and he realized she was pregnant.

He jumped up and his chair fell onto the ground with a crash while he stormed at Rhaegar yelling, "YOU BASTARD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY LITLLE SISTER." But before he could reach Rhaegar, he saw something from the corner of his eye and turned just in time to see a fist colliding with his face, and he was slammed to the ground.

"You may be my brother Ned, but if you ever try to hurt my husband again I will kick your ass all the way back to Winterfell."

Author's note:

And so ends the beginning of a new adventure. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as I sure liked writing it.

Aurora and Gabrielle will be the main focus of this story, along with several others, both original and canon characters. A & G are slightly overpowered compared to most characters in the show, though the likes of Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, Brienne of Tarth, Gregor and Sandor Clegane, and a few others, are able to go toe-to-toe with them if they fight not with their muscles but with their minds.

Aurora is the warrior of the two and more at home on a battlefield than at court, she has a brutally logical mind that allows her to do what must be done, any way it can be done. She will never betray her friends, and if you threaten someone she loves or betray her, your end will not be swift.

Gabrielle is the healer of the two and though equally ferocious on the field of battle as her wife, Gabrielle prefers to save lives instead of taking them. She is the most powerful of the two when it comes to matters of the mind, and when faced with a dilemma, she is usually the one to solve them.

As the story progresses I will reveal more of their powers and abilities, but suffice to say for now, they will change the Game of Thrones forever.

Hope to see you all next time,

Medieval Maniak.


	2. Chapter 2

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 2

 _Eddard Stark froze when he heard Rhaegar's words, was his sister really here, was she so close? His question was answered when a flap of the pavilion's walls was opened and Lyanna entered, she was flanked by two armored behemoths, both well_ _7 feet tall_ _, and wore a beautiful gown, in red and white. To his surprise he noticed that her belly was swollen and he realized she was pregnant._

 _He jumped up and his chair fell onto the ground with a crash while he stormed at Rhaegar yelling, "YOU BASTARD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY LITLLE SISTER." But before he could reach Rhaegar, he saw something from the corner of his eye and turned just in time to see a fist colliding with his face, and he was slammed to the ground._

" _You may be my brother Ned, but if you ever try to hurt my husband again I will kick your ass all the way back to Winterfell."_

To the astonishment of most of the people present in the pavilion, Ned jumped up laughing and hugged his sister tightly, "Oh Lya, you haven't changed a bit. We were all so worried about you."

Lya smiled a gentle smile when Ned finally released her, before she turned saddened and said, "I missed you too Ned, and Benjen also. I'm so, so sorry about what happened to father and Brandon. I never meant for it to happen, and neither did Rhaegar. He was furious when we heard about it. You mustn't blame him Ned, he plans to overthrow Aerys as soon as we return to the capital."

At this Ned looked surprised at Rhaegar who nodded solemnly and said, "It is the truth Lord Eddard, that man may still be my sire, but he is no longer the man I called, father. My father died in the dungeons of Duskendale and the mad man that sits upon the iron throne is nothing but an empty shell."

All three lords looked surprised at Rhaegar's harsh words about the king but only Jon Arryn spoke. "My prince, I believe I speak for all three of us, when I say that we have been lied to by Robert Baratheon, about the circumstances concerning your supposed kidnapping of Lady Lyanna. I myself would like to know the true reasoning behind all this."

Both Eddard and Hoster agreed with this while Rhaegar and the four men all sat down at the table again, Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor brought in a fifth chair in which Lyanna sat down, between Rhaegar and Eddard.

It was Lyanna who told the story while Rhaegar placed his hand on hers and gave her moral support throughout the ordeal.

"It all began at the great tourney of Harrenhal, when Rhaegar crowned me as queen of love and beauty. The night before the final joust, I was wandering in the gardens of Harrenhal when I heard Rhaegar and Princess Elia talking. I didn't want to intrude on them but curiosity drove me on.

I heard them talk about their son, Aegon, who died during birth." At this the three lords looked up surprised but didn't speak when Lyanna raised her hand to stall their comments.

"Prince Aegon died during birth, but to hide this from the public, and to protect Elia from the madness of Aerys, they presented an orphan boy, which Lord Varys, the mast of whispers, had found in an orphanage, as Prince Aegon Targaryan.

However, the complications that arose when she was giving birth, damaged Elia's already frail health even more and the maesters have told them that, should she try to get another child, then both the child and she will not live to see it be born.

Elia was telling Rhaegar that he should find himself a new wife, one of good health and one he would love, since she and Rhaegar share a close friendship, but it is not love that binds them. When Rhaegar heard that, he admitted to Elia that there was one amongst the many ladies whom he had met at the tourney. There was one whom he had fallen head over heels for but he was afraid that she would never see him in the same light.

When Elia asked who it was, I was shocked to hear Rhaegar say my name and in my shock I lost my balance and fell into the clearing in which they stood. Rhaegar immediately recognized me and blushed when he realized that I had heard everything. I have to admit that I rather liked the idea of becoming Rhaegar's wife, though the life at the capital did not seem so enticing to me.

We spoke for many hours that evening and well into the night, before Rhaegar told me that, if I would be agreeable, he would request my father for my hand in marriage. Elia would remain his wife but because the law has never been revoked, it is allowed for the crown prince, or the king, to have more than one wife.

I agreed, I knew of my betrothal to Robert Baratheon, father had told me about it before we went to Harrenhal, and I had met Robert. When I first saw him he was drunk, and came stumbling out of a whorehouse before he struck down a pair of young girls because they were laughing at him.

I know he is your best friend, and nearly a brother to you Ned, but you must understand, that from that moment on I knew three things. I knew that he would never be faithful to me, I knew he could never make me happy, and I knew that I would hate him for as long as I would live if I married him.

The next morning, before the final joust, Rhaegar requested a meeting with father and me. Together the three of us walked through the gardens and Rhaegar explained the situation. Father understood and when I gave my reasons for not wanting to marry Robert, he gave us his blessing and promised to annul the marriage contract between me and Robert.

Unknown to us, someone overheard it because on the way back to Winterfell, after the tourney was over, Robert rode up to us and he _threatened_ father, that if he would not marry me, he would make sure no one could.

Worried by this father sent a raven to Rhaegar informing him of Roberts threats and to warn him to be on his guard around the man. After a few messages to and from, Rhaegar and father agreed that it would be best if we were married in secret, so Robert couldn't make good on his threats.

So last year, on my sixteenth name day, Rhaegar came to Winterfell accompanied by the septon of Dragonstone and we married that evening. We said our vows before the Old Gods and the New, below the weirwood tree at Winterfell. Only father, Brandon, the septon and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower were present.

The next morning, we received word that Robert Baratheon had come by Moat Cailin just two days prior and was swiftly riding towards Winterfell with 500 riders. We decided to flee to Dragonstone, rather than to await his wrath and in the dark of night we left Winterfell behind us and rode south to White Harbor, where part of the royal fleet was anchored and we would be safe.

When we reached White Harbor, Admiral Velaryon notified us that Robert had learned about our marriage and was hot on our heels. All this happened when you were still at Starfall with the Lady Ashara, so from our family, only I, father and Brandon were aware of this.

While Robert was chasing after us, father and Brandon went to King's Landing, to petition Aerys, to order Robert to stand down. They did not know that Rhaegar had not told Aerys about our intent to get married, so when they told Aerys, the mad king thought they tried to manipulate him and he ordered them both executed.

The rest is well known to you all. Robert used it as an excuse to rise in full rebellion and he drew your three great houses into the war he started just because I refused to marry him. All of the Seven Kingdoms are at war, because he got turned down by the woman he professes to love.

Only half the storm lords have joined him here, as Stannis refused to follow him and is holding Storms End in Rhaegar's name, _against_ the other storm lords who are besieging it.

Lord Tyrell was send with the armies of the Reach to protect King's landing, but unfortunately, his army was smashed by Lord Tywin Lannister, who is, as we speak, marching on the capitol."

By now the three lords were ashen faced and silent, until Eddard stood up, reached over his shoulder, and drew Ice, the ancestral, Valyrian steel great sword of House Stark. He walked over to where Rhaegar was seated and aimed the great sword at him.

"Not a single Northman will ever again, bow for the mad king, but we will fight for you." He knelt before Rhaegar, presented him with Ice and said, "The North is under your command, _King Rhaegar Targaryan._ "

He was closely followed by both Jon and Hoster who likewise presented their swords to Rhaegar and all three said, "Hail King Rhaegar, first of his name, King ofthe Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm."

The present members of the Kingsguard immediately followed their example and they all knelt and proclaimed Rhaegar the true King of Westeros. Aurora and Gabrielle didn't bow, proclaim Rhaegar as their king, or even remove their helmets, but they were very pleased with the proceedings. Rhaegar would certainly prove to be a much more capable king than Aerys had ever been.

Rhaegar was honestly a bit overwhelmed by the response. He had hoped for a truce at most, maybe even peace, but not this. He stood up from his chair, with Lyanna at his side and said, "I am deeply honored by the trust you all place in me and I swear, by The Old Gods and the New, that I will do my utmost best to earn this trust you all place in me."

He motioned for the three lords and the Kingsguards to rise, and said, "Now we have a battle to win, and after Robert has been defeated, we will march on King's Landing with all possible haste."

At these words Aurora and Gabrielle stepped forward and removed their helmets, showing their faces to the three lords. To say they were surprised was an understatement, because though their breastplates subtly showed it, they had not expected the two armored behemoths to be women.

"It will be my pleasure to challenge Robert to a trial by combat and beat the shit out of him, while you prepare everything for a quick march to the capitol. Robert will know that he won't stand a chance against our combined armies, when the Northmen, the Knights of the Vale, and the River Lords all turn their back on him, and he'll seize this opportunity to have a chance at still winning this fight."

Aurora's words were well received but Lord Jon asked, "Begging your pardon my lady, but do you really think you can defeat Robert? He is one of the strongest warriors in the Seven Kingdoms and I know of only three men who would have a chance against him, Prince Rhaegar, Ser Arthur Dayne, and the Mountain, one of Tywin Lannister's banner men."

With a confident grin on her face aurora replied, "Believe me my lord, the fight will be decided before I even deal the first blow."

The confidence in her voice and her expression were enough to reassure him and soon after, the whole group left the pavilion and headed back towards the crossing of the Trident. When they all mounted their horses, Rhaegar on a beautiful black stallion and Lyanna next to him on a spirited white mare, Aurora took a small black horn from her belt and handed it to Rhaegar, "Blow this horn when it is time for me to arrive, we'll make it a spectacle no one will ever forget."

Rhaegar had a knowing grin on his face, as he knew from the memories Aurora had given him that it would indeed be a sight to behold.

As a group the eleven riders, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Eddard, Jon, Hoster, and the six Kingsguards, made their way down from between the ranks of the loyalist army and approached the crossing where Robert stood waiting for them.

When Robert saw that Lyanna was with them and the anger on the faces of Eddard, Jon and Hoster, he knew he had lost but he decided to try one last attempt. He shouted across the crossing, "Lyanna, my love, are you alright? Don't worry, I'll free you from that monster soon enough."

"BE SILENT," Lyanna roared across the crossing and she caught the attention of everyone on both sides of the crossing. "Don't ever try to call me 'your love' again or I will gut you where you stand, you monster.

You started this war because I chose Rhaegar above you. You are responsible for thousands of deaths, just because I refused to marry you. How could you _even think_ that I would want to marry you. You're nothing but a drunken, whore-mongering, murderous egoist, who cares about nothing but himself."

Robert seemed to slink away under the murderous gaze of Lyanna and when Eddard rode forward, followed by Jon and Hoster his last hope vanished. Eddard stood up in his stirrups and yelled, "MEN OF THE NORTH, HEAR MY WORDS. My sister married Rhaegar because she loves him, Robert has lied to us all. From this day on, we fight for the rightful king of Westeros, King Rhaegar, we will follow him to King's Landing, where he will depose the mad king and take his rightful place on the Iron Throne."

At his words the 30,000 Northmen all bend the knee and lowered their weapons, when Jon and Hoster spoke much of the same, the men from the Vale and the Riverlands did the same. The Stormlanders seemed confused, on one hand they were still loyal to Robert, but they all knew that if they fought, they would all die.

Rhaegar was the next to speak and he said, "I have a proposal for you, Lord Robert Baratheon, if you can defeat my champion in a trial by combat, you will be allowed to return home to Storms End and live the rest of your life in peace. But if you lose, you will surrender and accept the punishment for your treason."

As expected Robert jumped on the chance to win his freedom and loudly stated, "I ACCEPT. Present your champion."

At his words Rhaegar motioned for everyone to clear the crossing before he grabbed the horn Aurora had given him. Putting the small black horn to his lips he blew it. The sound the horn made reminded everyone off the roar of some savage and wild beast from the old legends, but to everyone's surprise, they heard a similar roar in answer.

From the trees behind the loyalist lines appeared the shape of a truly massive beast of war. A magnificent silver and sapphire blue dragon rose from the woods and approached the two armies on the riverbanks. On both sides men cowered beneath their shields, or fled the field, and when the dragon landed in the middle of the crossing, the ground shook from the impact of the many tons of muscle and armor of this winged bringer of destruction.

To the surprise of almost everyone, they could see a person sitting on a saddle on the dragon's back. The figure slid to one side of the saddle and jumped the thirty or so feet down. With a large SPLASH, the figure landed in the river and with a motion of its hand, the rider sent the dragon away and the mighty beast walked up the banks of the loyalist army and lay down behind Rhaegar and his companions.

Aurora removed her helmet and smirked at the dumbstruck form of Robert Baratheon. "What, have you never seen a dragon before?"

With her left hand she threw her helmet at Ser Barristan who caught it. Turning back to Robert she grasped the great battle axe in both hands and snarled. "Now it's between you and me, Lord Oath-breaker. Win past me and you'll win your freedom."

Without another word, Robert donned his helmet, raised his war hammer with a single hand and charged his horse forward. Aurora easily ducked beneath the wild blow of the war hammer while simultaneously slamming the flat side of her battle axe into Robert chest.

The lord of Storm's End was thrown from his horse by the inhuman strength behind the blow and crashed into the rushing waters of the trident. Spitting out water through the slits in his helmet, he rose above the water and raised his war hammer again before charging at Aurora.

Aurora smiled at him and stuck the top spike of her battle axe into the river bed before stepping forward and facing Robert bare handed.

Robert aimed a very powerful blow at her head but without even flinching, she grabbed the handle of the hammer with her left hand and stopped the blow before it could land. Before Robert realized what had happened, Aurora hit him square in the chest with her armored right hand. The spikes on her knuckles pierced his breastplate and the force of the blow bent the heavy steel.

Robert was again thrown off his feet and when he resurfaced, Aurora threw his war hammer at him and mocked, "You are gonna have to try harder than this, Lord Oath-breaker."

To the amazement of all witnesses, she continued to beat him down with ease, before giving him back his weapon and mocking him to try again. She was just playing with him.

After five minutes Robert was panting and throwing increasingly reckless blows at Aurora which she kept avoiding, or blocking with her bare hands.

When she finally got tired of her little game, Aurora punched him once more, this time underneath his chin, sending his helmet flying and causing Robert to crash down into the river for the eleventh time. She simply raised one of her armored legs and placed the foot on the chest of the Lord of Storm's End and kept him under.

It took less than a minute for Robert to stop struggling and Aurora finally lifted her foot. With one hand she grabbed Robert by the front neck of his armor and dragged him to the surface, before pulling him to the shore, picking up her axe on the way. She dropped him at Rhaegar's feet and stated dryly, "I think he has had enough. He's still alive, but if you want to keep him that way before he is executed, I suggest you get a maester to look at him."

She viciously kicked Robert in the side, again denting his armor and causing him to spew out a large amount of water before starting to cough. At a sign from Rhaegar, Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Jonothor Darry picked the fallen lord up and dragged him away to the loyalist encampment.

Rhaegar turned his attention to the Stormlanders and said, "Men of the Stormlands, your lord has fallen and you are on your own. Lay down you weapons and you will be allowed to return home, to your families. All those who resist will be fed to her." Those last words he aimed at Gabrielle who lazily lifted her head and breathed out a single puff of smoke, but it was enough.

The men from the Stormlands threw down their weapons and they were led back to their camp by the Dornish troops under command of Prince Lewyn, while the Northmen, the River Lords and the Knights of the Vale hastened to pack up their camps and join the rest of the royalist troops marching back to King's Landing.

Lord Tywin Lannister was seated on his white stallion and looked out over his marching troops, they were only a few hours' march away from King's Landing and already his men were eager for plunder.

Tywin knew he had made the right choice when he thought out his plan to bring down the Targaryans and put the easily controllable fool Robert Baratheon on the throne. Once Robert had smashed Rhaegar's weak forces at the trident, he would march south to King's Landing, and be crowned king.

When Robert was securely on the throne, Robert would marry Cersei and Tywin would finally see his long harbored dream come true, to have a King with Lannister blood on the Iron Throne.

It had been relatively easy to break the forces of the Reach. Lord Mace was a fool with not a single brain cell capable of thinking out strategies of war. When his host had attacked their camp two nights ago, the fat fool had been the first to flee. Ser Amory Lorch had reported seeing him racing back to Highgarden with his entire household behind him.

Overall, the 'lords of weeds and wine', as Tywin liked to call them mockingly, proved to be a bunch of incompetent fools. Their knights may be high on the list of honor and chivalry, but honor doesn't win battles. And their chivalry vanished quickly once his crossbowmen started shooting their fancy horses, leaving them on the ground to be trampled in the mud.

The only one who had proven an effective opponent was Lord Randyll Tarly. The Lord of Horn Hill had managed to keep his men together and fight a strategic withdrawal, leaving the field with most of his 18,000 men alive, though a fair number of them wounded, while cutting down nearly 3200 of Tywin's own men.

Tywin was still angry that the host from Horn Hill had managed to escape, because though they were barely a third of his own forces, they managed to constantly harass his supply lines. Just in the two days since the battle, he had lost 2000 men and 15 supply convoys. With the constant roadblocks they had been putting up it had taken them far longer to reach King's Landing than he would have liked, but their march was nearly at and end so he accepted the losses and just kept going forward.

A few hours later they had made camp before the walls of the capitol and Tywin had sent word to his son Jamie and his lackey Grand-Maester Pycell, to convince Aerys to open up the gates and let them in.

Just as Tywin was about to head to his tent to get some sleep before the gates opened, a runner came towards him. The man was taking ragged breaths while holding out a scroll to the old Lion. Tywin accepted the scroll and looked at the seal, it was a special one, only used by his spy amongst the host of Rhaegar. He broke the seal, opened the scroll and started to read,

 _To Lord Tywin Lannister._

 _I hope this letter finds you in a better situation than I find myself, my lord._

 _Rhaegar has received help, a dragon rider from_ _Old_ _Valyria has come to join the Targaryan cause and with her help Rhaegar has smashed Robert. The dragon rider brought the_ _Lady_ _Lyanna and with her help, Rhaegar convinced Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn and Hoster Tully to abandon the rebel cause and join him instead._

 _Robert has been publicly beaten in a trial by combat and is a prisoner waiting for execution. The Targaryan army, now more than 100,000 strong is marching to the capitol as we speak, I bid you my lord, flee, for the dragon is coming, with fire and blood._

 _Ever your loyal servant,_

 _Bardos Lorch._

Tywin crumpled the scroll and scoffed, clearly his trust in the young nephew of Ser Amory had been misplaced. He was obviously captured and forced to spin a lie to make him flee in order to save the city. There was no way Robert could lose, and as for the supposed dragon rider, please the last dragon died over a hundred years ago.

However, a small part of his mind didn't feel completely comfortable, the part of the dragon rider was obviously a lie, but there was a minimum chance that Rhaegar had indeed beaten Robert, and if he did, then he was in grave danger, he needed to be ready to react on it as soon as possible.

He had received word that his new friends were only a few weeks away, they would prove to be a decisive factor if Robert proved uncontrollable. And besides, what could happen, by the time Rhaegar or Robert could reach the city, it would already have fallen and they would be long gone if it was Rhaegar who returned.

Turning to his tent, he called for his squire to gather the commanders and to have them meet him in his command tent. They would take the city now and plunder its wealth so he could afford to go into temporary exile if needed and still be able to do the things he always did.

As a further precaution he sent a raven back to Casterly Rock, telling Cersei to gather as much of the riches and loyal men of Casterly Rock and Lannisport as possible and take ship as soon as she could. She would be safe at sea as the Greyjoy's had been included in the plan, they would be allowed to raid or take The North when the Northmen had all marched south, leaving their lands undefended.

Ten minutes later Tywin enters his command pavilion to find all of his commanders already present and seated. Quickly taking his seat he explained the situation and concluded with the words, "So you see my lords, we have no choice but to take the city now, or to wait for further news which could come in the form of a Targaryan host, twice our size."

Ever the warmonger, the Mountain exclaimed, "Then what are we waiting for my lord. Let's take that city and be done with it, my men and I could use a little sport."

Tywin was both pleased and worried by the words of his favorite attack dog. Whilst the man was not to be counted amongst the brightest of his commanders, he certainly had a certain skill for butchery and warfare. However, this was not the time for brute force. If they just stormed the gates than the gold-cloaks would be waiting for them at the top and they lacked proper siege equipment to take the city by storm.

As they were contemplating a way to take the city without having to do so by storming it, a messenger arrived. The young man bowed before Tywin and spoke, "Lord Tywin Lannister, King Aerys is pleased to hear that you are still his loyal servant and he invites you to bring your men into the city so they can help defend the walls against the rebel forces that are marching against the city."

Tywin almost did not believe his own ears; could the mad king really be that mad. Or perhaps the news of the destruction of the Tyrell hosts hadn't made it to the city yet? Whatever the reason was, Tywin was glad. Taking the city would be a piece of cake now.

Turning to the Mountain, Tywin said, "Come with me Ser Gregor, I have a special job for you."


	3. Chapter 3

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 3

The first sign that they were to late was Aurora sniffing at the air when she could smell fire in the distance. The second sign was that refugees came fleeing up the Kingsroad far below and ahead of them. The third sign was the weak glow in the distance, indicating a large fire.

Gabrielle cursed when she realized it and Aurora dove downwards to find Rhaegar. Now she cursed the decision to stay with the army, instead of flying ahead to King's Landing. It was Rhaegar who had insisted that they stay with them, so as not to invoke an attack from the city watch. They may not have been used for a very long time, but the walls of King's Landing still held weapons capable of bringing down dragons.

When they landed on the Kingsroad, in front of Rhaegar who rode at the head of the quickly marching army with Lyanna, Eddard, Jon and Hoster, all it took was three words, "We're too late."

Rhaegar started giving orders immediately. "Eddard, you come with me and all the men on horseback. Jon, Hoster, you follow with the infantry as fast as possible. Lyanna, you stay here, I'll send for you when it is safe. Ser Gerold, Ser Barristan, Ser Oswell and Ser Arthur, you stay with her. Prince Lewyn and Ser Jonothor, you're coming with me."

Turning to Gabrielle, who towered far above them he added, "Bring them fire and death. Teach the Lannisters that they're not the only ones who pay their debts."

Aurora stretched her body in anticipation of battle, and with a deafening roar, she launched herself into the sky and flew quickly towards the burning city in the distance.

It took her only a few minutes to fly the two score miles and with a roar that echoed with a terror from ages past, she descended on the part of the Lannister army that was still outside the gates. During their descent they noticed a second host approaching the city, not 2 miles out.

The entire city stood still when they heard Aurora's roar. When the enormous dragon descended on the Lannister army, the citizens cheered and the Lannisters despaired. Aurora opened her mouth when she flew over the army and unleashed a great torrent of red flames. Hundreds burned to their deaths and the army panicked. They tried to take refuge in houses and behind the walls but it was of no avail.

Aurora's fire killed thousands outside the walls but many more were within and she did not dare unleash her fire upon the city, where it could spread and kill tens of thousands of innocent people.

When nothing remained alive outside the walls, Aurora landed between the fire and the smoke and used it as cover to change back in her human form. By that time the second host had reached the city and they saw a man, wearing full plate over mail and boiled leather and holding a Valyrian steel greatsword in his hands, leading the host.

They approached the man with axes ready and from underneath Gabrielle's helmet came the words, "Identify yourself, are you friend or foe of King Rhaegar."

The man dismounted his horse before removing his helmet and stating, "My name is Randyll Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill and my allegiance lies with Prince Rhaegar."

Gabrielle and Aurora likewise removed their helmets and Aurora said, "That is good to hear Lord Randyll, we have heard much about you. Please order your men to follow us into the city, we have some bloody work that needs to be done."

If Lord Randyll was surprised to see the two women than he didn't show it. He merely nodded and handed the reins of his horse to a squire before addressing his men. "MEN OF HORN HILL, these last days have been hard on all of us. We have all lost friends and comrades to those lions over there, but as you can see, we do not stand alone on this day. SO FOLLOW ME NOW, AND LET'S KILL SOME LIONS."

The army roared in agreement and with Aurora, Gabrielle and Lord Randyll in the lead, the remaining 15,000 men from Horn Hill charged into the city.

Because they were no longer airborne, they didn't notice a large part of the ships that had been anchored in the harbor leave the city. As soon as Tywin had heard the dragon's roar, he had moved as many of his men towards the harbor as he could gather. Laden with riches they took every ship they could get their hands on and set sail out of Blackwater Bay. Tywin Lannister's plan had succeeded. He had managed to flee the city with more than half of his original force of 55,000 men, and the more than 250 ships they had taken were laden with gold and other riches.

Meanwhile Aurora and Gabrielle were making their way towards the Red Keep. Followed by Lord Randyll and his men, they cut a bloody path through every Lannister soldier they came upon and soon the citizens joined them. Small groups of battered gold-cloaks and citizens armed with axes and scavenged swords and spears joined behind them as they carved a bloody path through the Lannister men that still remained in the city.

They led by example, the great battle axes they wielded drank the blood of a thousand dead Lannister men and with every life they took, the heavy black steel seemed to shine with delight, as if it reveled in the bloodshed. Besides them Lord Randyll cleaved one Lannister after the other with _Heartsbane_ , he more than proved the rumors Aurora had gained from Rhaegar's mind.

Slowly but steadily they made their way to the Red Keep. They were relieved to find the gates firmly closed and the Lannisters packed beneath their walls. They fell on them from behind and when the Lannisters turned around to face this new threat, the gates of the Red Keep opened and the 500 men strong garrison attacked the Lannisters in the rear. They were crushed between hammer and anvil and none escaped.

Before they could rejoice in this small victory, they saw something that made their hearts stop.

A small side tower of Maegor's Holdfast was burning. From the memories Aurora had taken from Rhaegar she knew what that tower was. The rooms of Elia and her daughter were in that tower, along with the orphan boy who was known as Aegon.

With a speed no one would have expected from the heavily armored figures, Aurora and Gabrielle stormed towards the holdfast, the drawbridge was down but they found the gates closed. It took them only three blows with their mighty axes before the beam that kept the gates closed broke.

Storming up the many stairs, they followed their memories from Rhaegar and took the swiftest route to the tower of the prince, knowing in their hearts that they would be too late.

It took Rhaegar, Eddard and the 10,000 horsemen with them, just over an hour to reach the burning fields outside the open gates of King's Landing. They bore witness to the death and destruction that the dragonfire had wrought around them, burned corpses in molten steel covered the ground as far as they could see and fires were still burning all around them. As he witnessed the destruction Rhaegar thought to himself, ' _what ungodly terror have I unleashed upon this city'._

They led their men into the city where they found the saddening, but unfortunately familiar sights of a city that was being sacked. Corpses littered the streets, women and young girls lay naked on the streets, their bodies bloodied and broken, while their husbands, fathers and brothers lay besides them, their throats cut open or their bodies hacked to pieces.

In the distance, thick black smoke clouds indicated that large parts of the city were on fire. Screaming could be heard from every direction and the smell of burning flesh and death was all around them. Suddenly a great explosion came from the direction of Flea Bottom and to his shock, Rhaegar saw distinct green flames rising above the roofs of the slums.

The farther they traveled into the city, the more they noticed that the bodies that still littered the street were increasing numbers of Lannister men, while the citizen victims become more and more sparse. It was somewhat heartening to find the occasional men in green with a red archer on the chest, men from Horn Hill, meaning that the defenders didn't stand alone.

As they hurriedly rode through the streets, Rhaegar noticed that many of the Lannister men had large gaping wounds, or were completely cut in half. Thinking about the battle axes he had seen Aurora and Gabrielle wield, he felt the shivers run down his spine, those poor souls never stood a chance.

When they finally reached the Red Keep they saw the massacre of Lannister troops laying before its walls and when Rhaegar saw the burning tower, he went pale with worry before the blood of the dragon awakened within him. With a mighty roar he drove his horse on and on horseback he thundered through the hallways of the Red Keep until he came upon the broken gates of Maegor's Holdfast.

Fearing the worst he left his horse at the gates and sped up the stairs towards his and Elia's chambers. When he approached the room he felt the heat getting more intense but it didn't bother him. He dove into his rooms, only to crash straight into a black, steel breastplate. A little dazed by the force of the impact he was picked up like a sack of potatoes and carried out of the burning chamber.

Gabrielle placed Rhaegar on the nearest chair before she headed back into the flames to continue searching for his family. They had already found Elia, the poor woman had been raped and her neck had been broken, and she lay on the ground staring with lifeless eyes towards the ceiling.

Aegon they had found in his crib, the poor boy had his head smashed in with a heavy golden candlestick, which lay besides him in the crib.

But no matter where they looked, they couldn't find Rhaenys, the three-year-old girl was just gone. They carried the two bodies they had found, out of the flames and carefully placed them on a bed in one of the other rooms, before covering them with a blanket. They were not a pretty sight to behold.

When they exited the room again they found Rhaegar still dazed and seated on the chair where Gabrielle had left him. He was in shock and no discernible words came out of him.

Having enough of his behavior, there would be time to mourn later, Aurora slapped him a few times in the face and brought him back to reality. When his indigo eyes met with Aurora's sapphires she said softly, "We have found Elia and Aegon, but we can't find Rhaenys, do you have any idea where she could be? Is there a hiding place where she could have gone?"

Rhaegar softly shook his head and said, I don't know, maybe to Viserys's room, she liked to play there."

"Where is that?" asked Gabrielle quickly.

"One floor above us, stairs at the end of the hall and then the third room on your left."

They raced upstairs and following Rhaegar's directions they found the room. It was immediately clear that they had found the right room. The young prince lay on his bed, his small chest was riddled with stab wounds and he was bled dry. He had been stabbed at least half a hundred times and his lifeless lilac eyes still held a look of fear to them.

Gabrielle sighed softly before walking over to the bed and closing the boy's eyes. She pulled a blood free blanket from the bed, not an easy task to find one, and wrapped the young prince in it. Meanwhile Aurora was searching the room for any trace of Rhaenys but they once again came up empty handed, Rhaenys was gone.

Gabrielle picked up the small body from the bed and carried him downstairs where they found Rhaegar kneeling before the bed where they had left the bodies of Elia and Aegon. He had pulled back the covers and held one of Elia's hands while he wept shamelessly.

Gabrielle carefully placed Viserys on the bed and at Rhaegar's pleading expression she answered softly, "Its Viserys, Rhaenys was nowhere to be found, we haven't found the queen either."

At those words Rhaegar sucked in a deep breath and said, "Mother." He gave a last saddened look at Elia's broken body before he pulled the covers up again and hurried out of the room.

In quick succession they checked the king's chambers, the queen's chambers, and about every room Rhaegar could think about but to no avail, the queen and the princess were not to be found. Finally, they made their way to the throne room where they found a sight they did not expect.

Eddard Stark stood before the Iron Throne and was yelling at a young man with golden blond hair who sat in it. They saw three corpses lying on the floor before the throne. Two wore the black and brown of the Pyromancers and the final one wore richly embroidered clothes of red and black and was the mad king himself. He had been stabbed in the back.

The young man on the throne turned out to be no one else than Ser Jamie, the eldest son and heir of Tywin Lannister himself. His sword with the golden handle was laying on his lap and it was still covered in blood.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE BOY," Lord Eddard yelled towards the boy on the throne, "Even though that man was mad, he was still your king. You are a Kingsguard, YOU SWORE AN OATH to protect him with your life, not to stab him in the back."

"What are you yelling about Lord Stark. With the Targaryans out of the way, your friend Robert can claim the throne. Isn't that exactly what you have been fighting for, for the last year?"

"That _was_ what we were fighting for, until my sister told me the truth. Robert and your father have planned all this, but guess what, not all Targaryans are dead."

"I know," Jamie Lannister answered nonchalantly. Either he hadn't heard Eddard or he just didn't care. "The queen and the Princess Rhaenys have fled to Dragonstone after Rhaegar left, but don't worry, my father is sailing there as we speak so it won't be much longer until they are dead as well."

At this point Rhaegar had heard enough, he walked angrily up the dais towards the throne and looked down upon the young Lannister who looked as though he saw a ghost. "Tha… that… that is impossible, Robert k… k… killed you at The Trident, my father wrote me s… so himself."

"Your father lied Jamie, and now you will pay the price for his crimes. Did you kill Elia, Aegon and Viserys as well?" Rhaegar's voice was soft but laced with anger.

The boy shook his head frightfully and said, "N… n… no, I opened one of the secret p… p…passages for G… G… Gregor Clegane and S… Ser Amory Lorch. They went after them and t… t… told me to k… kill the king. I… I… haven't seen them since."

"You're disgusting," Rhaegar snarled before he backhanded him across the face, breaking his nose in the process, and dragged him from the Iron Throne. He threw him at the feet of Aurora and Gabrielle and Jamie looked fearfully upwards to the closed helmets.

"Throw him in a black cell, I'll deal with him later. But for now we need to get to Dragon Stone and alert the royal fleet that they should stop Tywin at all costs."

Jamie started laughing at those words and said mockingly, "You'll never get there in time. My father is hours ahead of you."

"Wait," Rhaegar told Aurora while she was dragging the disgraced Kingsguard away. "We'll take him with us. See if Tywin is more agreeable if we feed his favored son to a dragon."

A muffled laugh came from beneath the black helmet and Aurora dragged a panicking Jamie back towards the throne.

Tywin Lannister was standing on the back of the _Prince Viserys_ and looked back behind him at the burning city in the distance. He hoped that Jamie had gotten away, his son was a great warrior, but even he was no match for a dragon. In hindsight it may not have been such a good idea to tell Jamie that Rhaegar was dead, in his arrogance he may do something that could cost him dearly.

Turning to the horizon ahead of them he could see the island of Driftmark, behind it the Targaryan stronghold on Dragonstone. It would be less than a hundred miles until they reached the open sea and freedom. He would sail south-east, to visit his new friends and perhaps there, he could take some time to think. No doubt Rhaegar would send his dragon rider to Casterly Rock, he could only hope that Cersei had done as he told her and got out of there as soon as she could.

He didn't care what would happen with Tyrion, that little shit has always been a thorn in his side and he hoped Rhaegar would be so kind as to get rid of him. Looking at the setting sun, he decided to turn in for the night and headed to the cabin he had taken for his own.

The journey to Dragonstone was relatively short, compared to the one to Dorne, but it still took them about an hour to get there. The full moon was up and they had to stay out of sight of the stolen fleet in order for their plan to work.

The passenger list was rather short, Aurora was flying and in the saddle on her back were, Gabrielle, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Ser Barristan, and Ser Arthur. The rest of the Kingsguard had remained in the city to stand vigil by the bodies of Elia, Viserys and Aegon. The body of Aerys had also been laid in the same room, but with obvious less care than the other three.

Temporary command of the city had been left in the hands of Jon Arryn. Eddard Stark had been given command of their united forces and tasked with keeping the peace in the capital, while Hoster Tully had been given the task of removing the signs of the battle that still remained everywhere you saw. It was a grim task, as tens-of-thousands lay dead in the streets and everywhere you looked, you saw plundered houses and burned out shops. Flea Bottom had been ravished by the explosion and the ensuing fires had spread out over large parts of the city. Few people knew that it was thanks to Aurora and Gabrielle, and their control over every kind of fire, that the fire hadn't spread to the entire city. But still, the dead were innumerable and it would take a long time before the city would recover from its wounds.

Randyll Tarly had been given command of the cavalry forces and was sent back to Highgarden to gather what remained of the army of the Reach and to bring Lord Mace to King's Landing. The Lord of House Tyrell had not made himself very popular in Rhaegar's eyes, after Lord Randyll had told him what had happened when they were attacked by the Lannister host.

A lot had happened since they had reached the city at noon but Rhaegar had one particular memory he would remember for the rest of his life.

When they began to make up a report of the damage done to the capital, the High Septon and the Most Devout themselves had shown up at the steps of the Red Keep, demanding that they be allowed to enter and speak to Rhaegar. It just so happened that the one put in charge of keeping everyone out who did not need to be there, was the Greatjon Umber.

He had stood directly in the doorway with six of his own house guards, all big, broad men with thick beards and wielding massive two handed swords which they were leaning on. The two bald, short, and rather obese men, came walking towards the keep as if they owned the place and demanded to be allowed to enter.

"Step aside peasant," the High Septon said on a denigrating tone. "We demand to be shown to Prince Rhaegar immediately, we have matters of the utmost importance to discuss with him."

The Greatjon stared at them for over a minute without saying a word until he spit on the ground, right in front of the High septon's feet and said, "No."

Both men were obviously not used to be told 'no', and they started throwing an incredible tantrum on the steps, drawing a small crowd of onlookers, mostly gold-cloaks and Northmen, until they had drawn Rhaegar outside, out of pure annoyance that someone would be so rude to disturb the peace at such a dark moment in the history of the once great city.

Rhaegar was flanked by the helmeted Aurora and Gabrielle and since he came out of a side-door, the two clergy men had not seen him yet and he waited patiently until they would notice him, which took only a minute or two.

"Ah, Prince Rhaegar," began the High Septon, but he was immediately interrupted by the Greatjon who said,

"That's, _King_ Rhaegar for you, you dry cunts."

Rhaegar grinned softly at the Greatjon's words, he had never liked the two men, but because of their positions he had avoided disrespecting them, until now. "I'm quite busy, so please tell me what you want and then get the hell out of here. I'm sure there are many people in the city who could use your help right now."

The two men looked insulted at Rhaegar's words, which was exactly what he intended, and the Most Devout scoffed, "Our services are not for the common rabble, and since you haven't been crowned yet, it's still _Prince_ Rhaegar, but if you desire it we will get to the point.

During the sack, the Great Sept of Baelor was damaged. And since it was your absence that allowed the Lannisters to sack this city, we demand that the crown pays for the repairs."

The only reaction they got out of Rhaegar was a slight raising of one eyebrow a fraction of an inch, but the Greatjon and his men scowled at the angry faces of the two men.

When the High Septon tried to say something, Rhaegar interrupted him and with barely contained anger, he said, "My wife, my son, my brother, and my father have been murdered, my mother, and my daughter are missing. The streets of this city are still littered with the corpses of the poor victims of the sack, half the city is in ruins and the other half has been plundered, and you _dare_ to demand _this_ from me, and at _this time_.

I will give you one warning, you are going to leave now, and when you return to the Great Sept, you will tell _all_ of your people to get out into the city and help as many people as they can. If you refuse you will not like the consequences because I'll…."

He was interrupted by the High Septon who screamed in rage, "You will mind your place boy, we are the leaders of the faith and you will do as we say or _we_ will…" They would never find out what they would do as at that moment Aurora had had enough.

She grabbed both men by the throat, the High Septon in her right hand and the Most Devout in her left, and with no apparent effort she raised them 2 feet from the ground before snarling, "I don't give a single fuck who you think you are, but you will show your _King_ the respect he deserves. It is my opinion that the faith has been given way too much power the last few decades and it's about time that something is done about that."

She gave both men an extra squeeze before throwing them on the ground where they landed in an undignified display as their robes where torn where they caught on the spikes of Aurora's gauntlets.

When the men had stopped taking ragged breath's, Rhaegar addressed them again in the same cold, angry tone as before. "I have always prayed to the Seven, all of my life, but never did I receive an answer from them.

Three days ago, on the eve of battle, at the banks of the Trident, I had my darkest hour. I prayed to the Seven for guidance and for help, but again they remained silent. When I went for a walk to clear my mind, I came upon an ancient Weirwood tree. I knelt before the tree and for the first time in my life, I prayed to the Old Gods.

I begged them for help, I prayed for strength to be able to survive the trials that lay ahead of me, and do you know what happened? They, answered. I had never asked anything of them before, I had never prayed to them, never brought any sacrifices, never worshipped them in any way but still they answered me. They showed me how to contact _them_ ," at those last words he motioned to Aurora and Gabrielle before continuing.

"They are the Last of the True Dragon Riders of Old Valyria. With their help I defeated Robert Baratheon without spilling a single drop of blood. They are the ones that broke the Lannister army, and they are the ones who will help me make this country united and strong again.

So now leave, before I ask them to take their dragons and tear down that entire wretched building." The High Septon and the Most Devout didn't know how fast they had to leave his sight ere he decide to send his riders after them.

When they approached Dragonstone, they were all glad to see that the royal fleet was already preparing to set sail. Apparently they had heard about the sack and if they were planning on helping the city, or to stop Tywin, they didn't know, but it was good to see that they would be ready to set sail soon.

Aurora flew above the courtyard and was slowly circling downwards so as not to scare her passengers with a dive landing, when it happened. Someone must have seen them and thought them a threat, as the great ballistae on the walls started to shoot their deadly projectiles at Aurora. Four of the heavy, 8-foot-long steel spears hit her in the chest but the scales there were so thick that they didn't penetrate, however three others hit her unprotected wings.

When Aurora was hit she roared in pain and the entire island froze for a second before the men on the ballistae continued firing.

They were still out of earshot so Rhaegar couldn't order them to stop firing, and Aurora folded her wings and dived towards the courtyard in an attempt to get to the ground before she was shot out of the sky.

They dropped roughly a thousand feet in a few seconds and when Aurora spread her wings again to prevent them from crashing, they fired another volley from the walls, and this time they hit true. As soon as they were within earshot Rhaegar yelled, "STOP FIRING, I'M RHAEGAR." But it was already too late.

One of the spears hit Aurora in the shoulder of her right front leg and went straight through. Another hit exactly between two scales on her right side, sliding under and penetrating two feet into the flesh beneath. The others pierced her wings on more places and with another roar of pain, they crashed to the ground, a few hundred feet outside of Dragonstone and luckily out of sight of the garrison.

To the fortune of her passengers, Aurora landed on her belly so they were just shaken a lot, but luckily unharmed. They could hear orders being given in the fortress and assumed that the garrison would be send out soon to come find them.

In the meantime, Gabrielle had jumped from the saddle as soon as Aurora had landed and quickly went to her right side to remove the two spears that were still stuck in her body. When they were out, Gabrielle cut off the saddle and to the amazement of Arthur, she changed back into her human form.

She laid on the ground and didn't move as Gabrielle sprinted towards her and lifted her from the ground yelling, "I NEED A HEALER." For the first time since they met her, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Barristan and Arthur could hear panic and fear in her voice.

Rhaegar quickly ran towards her with the other three hot on his heels and he led her quickly towards the fortress. Barristan and Arthur each struggled to pick up one of the heavy Battle axes the ladies had left behind and quickly followed them with Lyanna in front of them.

They entered the courtyard and went into a well lit corridor that led to the maester's chambers. In the torchlight of the corridor they could see the large hole in her breastplate where the spear had wounded her in the side, and a steady stream of boiling hot blood ran from it and from her right shoulder as well as from under her back-plate.

When they reached the closed door to the maester's study, Rhaegar knocked but Gabrielle didn't have the patience to wait and kicked the door open before rushing in. She almost literally ran over the maester, a relatively young man with shoulder long brown hair and a kind face, before placing her partner carefully on the table in the centre of the room.

Turning to the maester she growled, "I need a lot of fresh water, clean rags, needle and thread, and two bottles of rum or something similar." The maester looked confused and more than a little disgruntled at almost being ran over by some aggressive stranger before being ordered about by said stranger.

"DO IT," yelled Rhaegar to the young man and he sprang into action while Gabrielle removed her helmet before carefully inspecting the hole on the side of Aurora's breastplate.

She turned to Lyanna and said, "Help me remove her armor."

Lyanna approached her to help, but Barristan said quickly, "Save your strength princess, I'll help her."

Gabrielle shook her head again and said a little more calmly now, "No Ser Barristan, I want you, Rhaegar and Arthur to leave this room now. There is nothing any of you can do and I don't want any of you to see her half-naked."

Ser Barristan actually got a little blush on his cheeks as he realized why Gabrielle had asked Lyanna in the first place and the three men quickly left the room, passing the maester in the hallway who came running back from some store room with the things Gabrielle had requested. Just as they left the room, Gabrielle yelled after them, "Make sure no one touches the blood that spilled from her wounds, it'll burn everyone and everything that touches it."

As soon as the maester had put the requested items on the table next to Aurora's unmoving body, Gabrielle literally kicked him out and locked the door behind him.

She quickly returned to the table where Lyanna assisted her with removing the armor. First was the thick fur cape that was attached to the breastplate with two large silver clasps.

Next were all the weapons, the two swords on her back, the one on her hip and the two long daggers. The great battle axes had been put against the wall of the study by Barristan and Arthur before they left the chamber.

Then were the shoulders which were attached by a series of thick leather strings that had to be untied. The breastplate was held in place and attached to the back-plate by a series of smaller black steel clasps, two on each shoulder and six on each side.

When all the clasps were open Gabrielle lifted the breastplate off and put it on the ground before they started to remove the arm plates. The upper and lower arm plates were quickly untied and the elbow-guards were likewise removed. The armored gloves were taken off as well before Gabrielle lifted Aurora's torso from the table and with the help of Lyanna removed the silver-colored mail she wore beneath the plate.

Dropping the mail on the ground Gabrielle quickly unbuttoned the padded leather shirt beneath and removed that as well revealing a, once white, linen shirt that was almost completely drenched with blood. She quickly warned Lyanna not to touch the bloody shirt and taking a knife from her boot, she cut the linen shirt apart and revealed Aurora's bare chest.

A large hole was located right next to her kidney. It was more than an inch in diameter and bleeding heavily. A similar hole went through her right shoulder and several smaller open wounds were bleeding on her back and her shoulders.

Lyanna gasped at seeing the wounds and Gabrielle cursed before she opened one of the bottles of rum and poured its contents directly into the open wound on her side. Aurora started struggling and Gabrielle quickly handed the bottle to Lyanna before restraining her partner. Lyanna kept pouring the rum into the wounds until the second bottle was empty as well.

When the wounds were cleaned by the alcohol in the rum, Gabrielle told Lyanna to take a few of the clean rags and to press them onto the wounds on her back. When that was done, Gabrielle carefully lowered Aurora's body to the table again and shocking Lyanna, Gabrielle drew a second dagger from her boot and pulled it past her left wrist.

The skin parted and a generous flow of blood streamed from her wrist. She held her wrist above the hole in Aurora's side and let her blood drop directly into the wound. After a few seconds she did the same with the wound on her shoulder before taking a clean rag and with Lyanna's help she tied it tightly around the cut.

Next she picked up the needle and thread, and she carefully stitched the wounds together until they were reduced to small lines that kept giving off the occasional drop of blood.

Carefully laying Aurora on her chest, Gabrielle repeated the process with the wounds on her back until all of them were neatly stitched together. What Gabrielle did next surprised and shocked Lyanna, she balled her fist and when she opened it again it revealed a small ball of sapphire blue fire, which she threw at the bowl of water.

Half the water evaporated immediately and the other half was boiling instantly. Dropping a few of the rags into the boiling water, Gabrielle started cleaning the blood from Aurora's body. When she was clean again Gabrielle lowered her onto the table and said to Lyanna, "And now we wait. She should be fine in a few minutes."

Lyanna stared at her disbelieving until she said, "A few minutes? I have seen men die from much lesser wounds. I'd sooner say that we'd be lucky if she lasted the night."

Gabrielle smiled a little sad smile and replied, "We are not like men, Lyanna, but you probably already knew that. We were sent here by the Old Gods to help Rhaegar prepare the seven kingdoms for the return of the Long Night. We are not immortal, but we're as close as mortals can get, meaning that we do not age and heal very, very fast.

We are the last of the true blood ancient dragons that once inhabited this world. The gods have long ago given us human forms, to be able to walk amongst men, but we always kept our ability to change back into our true form at will. Aurora changed back into her human form to allow me to heal her, as it would be much more difficult to heal her dragon body because of the size of it."

Lyanna nodded weakly at Gabrielle's explanation, she was a little overwhelmed by it all and though she didn't mean to, she couldn't help but study Aurora's bare chest. From the moment that she met them, she was curious how they looked beneath all that armor, as with it they were bulkier than any men she knew.

Aurora's stomach was covered by clearly defined muscles and so was her upper chest and her shoulders. Her arms were likewise covered by muscles and she guessed they would have to be, in order to perform the feats, she had seen her do in her duel with Robert.

Her belly was decorated by a small, heart-shaped ruby that hung from a short silver rod which was pierced through the skin on the upside of her bellybutton. Her nipples were likewise pierced, but with silver rings, each an inch in diameter. Each ring had a small ruby set at the lowest point that seemed to envelop the two ends of the ring. Lyanna tried to inconspicuously look at the rings and didn't notice the naughty grin that adorned Gabrielle's face when she noticed it none-the-less.

"Don't worry," Gabrielle said with a large grin on her face, "you're not the first one to stare."

Lyanna turned beet-red at Gabrielle's words and stammered, "I… I… I…."

Gabrielle put a soft hand on her shoulder and said, "Relax, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Aurora and I are very open about our bodies to other women. We don't allow the touch of a man, but we regularly share our bed with other women."

Lyanna slowly lost the red color in her cheeks until she slowly nodded and asked, "Why, why are there rings in her…"

"In her nipples?" Gabrielle finished with a grin, "It greatly enhances their sensitivity and when we're having sex," Lyanna started blushing again at Gabrielle's bluntness, "it feels great when they are pulled on or twisted. If you want, we can do yours too, when you're done with breastfeeding that little one growing inside you. I promise you you'll love them, as will Rhaegar, all men do."

Lyanna didn't know what to say, one the one hand she very much liked the idea, but on the other hand she wasn't sure if she wanted to shove a couple of needles through her own nipples.

"When you two are done gossiping about my body, could you perhaps help me get up, I'm still a little stiff." Aurora's voice was tinged with a tone of humor and when Gabrielle and Lyanna looked down they saw a big grin plastered on her face and to Lyanna's amazement, the wounds in her side and shoulder were just gone. Not a trace remained of the gaping wounds that were still bleeding greatly not ten minutes ago.

Gabrielle quickly helped her partner get up and when her back was shown to her, Lyanna noticed that it was decorated by a large tattoo of two scaly and leathery wings, that covered her entire back. The base of the wings were on her shoulder blades and the rest fanned out over her back and down past the waistband of her lower-body armor. The tattoo was done in black and red ink, the exact same coloring as Aurora's real wings when in dragon form.

"Wow," Lyanna said softly when she saw the tattoo.

Aurora and Gabrielle both looked at her and Aurora said with a small grin, "You like it? It's where our real wings are hidden when in human form."

Lyanna nodded and said on a soft tone, "I once saw a sailor in White Harbor with a tattoo of a naked mermaid on his chest, but it wasn't as beautiful as that one. Ever since I saw that sailor I wanted a tattoo as well, but father always forbade it, he said that my future husband probably wouldn't like it and it was not befitting for a 'proper lady' to 'desecrate' her body like that."

A single tear escaped her eyes when talking about her father but she quickly brushed it away and squared her shoulders.

In the meantime, Gabrielle had helped Aurora put her armor back on and to the surprise of Lyanna. It didn't show a single scratch where the two large holes had previously been. Seeing her gob smacked expression Gabrielle explained, "Our armor is magical, it automatically repairs itself when our bodies are healed."

Lyanna just nodded weekly, a little overwhelmed by everything that she had seen since arriving at Dragonstone half an hour ago.

When Aurora was once again fully dressed they opened the door and stepped outside where they found Rhaegar, Ser Barristan, Ser Arthur and the maester waiting for them. All four men looked amazed to see Aurora walking again as if nothing had happened, when barely half an hour ago she had been shot out of the sky and crash-landed on the island.

"How, how, how," was all Rhaegar could say while looking at Aurora.

"We'll explain everything once we have found your mother and daughter." Gabrielle said softly and Rhaegar's eyes widened. In the chaos that followed their 'landing' he had forgotten everything else and he immediately turned around and ran towards the main keep, to find the two missing members of his remaining family.

Author's note:

As you all probably realized, I made the sack of King's Landing a whole lot worse than it was in canon. Trust me, it has its reasons, as this story will not be for the faint of heart.

I always figured Lyanna to be somewhat like Arya, wild, adventurous and mischievous in nature, but with a heart of gold underneath. At times she might act a little strange or childish, but don't forget, she's only barely sixteen and halfway through her first pregnancy.

Aurora and Gabrielle are a bit different from the previous story for those of you who have read it. They are a bit darker and at the same time a little more willing to 'let go'. Especially Aurora will have her childish moments when she behaves more like a spoiled little girl, than a 5000-year-old demigod.

Their characters could be described a bit as that of aristocratic punkers. They know exactly how to behave as proper nobility but they prefer to just do everything their own way and fuck the consequences.

I hope you all liked it so far and continue to follow the story. Please review as I love to hear from all of you. But please, if you have to criticize me, do so constructively because nobody likes to get flamed. If I don't know what I'm doing wrong, then I can't work on it.

Same goes for any grammar mistakes I (dealyflame his faithful beta) may miss. I'm not perfect and know there are things I may miss or even get wrong. I wonder if he'll notice I hijacked the end of his note?

Hope to see you all next week,

MM


	4. Chapter 4

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 4

They hurried back to the courtyard and ignoring the gaping looks of the men that were still gathered there, and ran on to the main keep.

Entering the keep Rhaegar yelled, "MOTHER, RHAENYS," from deep within the keep a muffled cry could be heard and they hurried in that direction. When they entered a long hallway on the third floor, they saw two figures running towards them from the other end.

"RHAEGAR,"

"FATHER,"

The cries from his mother and daughter caused Rhaegar to break into tears and he ran at his only two remaining blood relatives. His mother wore a loose fitting red dress and his daughter was dressed in her bed clothes.

When they met, Rhaegar picked up his daughter in his right arm and pressing her against him, he enveloped his mother in a hug with the other. Tears were shed at the reunion while the rest of the group stood silently a few feet away.

When the Queen released her son, she noticed the others and looked wide-eyed at the armored figures of Aurora and Gabrielle. Looking at her son she didn't have to ask the question to receive an answer. "They are here to help us. With their help Robert was crushed at the Trident without bloodshed and they destroyed half the Lannister army that is responsible for sacking King's Landing. They come from the Ruins of Valeria."

Queen Rhaella gasped at those words and looked awed at Aurora and Gabrielle, who inclined their heads and smiled gently at the queen. "Your Grace," Gabrielle said respectfully, "It is good to see that not all of Rhaegar's kin have been killed."

At those words Rhaella looked at Rhaegar with frightful eyes and he shook his head sadly while saying, "During the sack, two of Tywin's men made their way into the Holdfast. They killed Elia, Aegon, and Viserys, before disappearing. The king was killed by Jamie Lannister, on his father's orders."

Rhaella had tears running down her face at hearing about the deaths of her son, daughter-in-law and adopted grandson. She didn't much care about her brother/husband as there was never any love between them.

When Rhaella finally released her son Rhaegar took her hand and said, "I want you to meet someone mother," he walked towards Lyanna who stood behind Ser Barristan with a hooded cape and took her small hand in his. "This is Lyanna Stark, my second wife."

Lyanna lowered her hood and showed her face to the queen. She bowed before her and said softly, "Your Grace, I'm so sorry for everything that happened. Neither Rhaegar nor me ever wanted this to happen."

Rhaella softly grasped Lyanna's head and made her look at her. "Never apologize for loving someone my dear, love is one of the greatest and most valuable things in this world, and definitely worth fighting for."

She enveloped her in a hug and to the surprise of both, their swollen bellies hit another one. "You're Pregnant," they said at the same time and Rhaegar went wide eyed when he heard Lyanna say it

He looked at the queen and asked hesitantly, "Mother, are you…?"

It was the little girl in his arms who answered though as Rhaenys said, "Grandma is getting a baby, you are getting a brother or a sister daddy."

Rhaella smiled a little sadly and said, "The king decided that he wanted to give me a 'proper goodbye', despite my protests and he has left me with child once again. I hope everything will go all right with this one."

At those words Gabrielle softly cleared her throat and said, "If I may Your Grace," she removed her gauntlets and held up her bare hands. "I have skills as a healer, I can take a 'look' and see if everything is all right with the little one. How far are you along?"

Rhaella looked at Rhaegar and when he nodded she accepted and said, I'm 4 and a half months along as of last week, but perhaps we can better wait till I can lay down and remove my dress."

Gabrielle nodded in acknowledgement and said, "Of course Your Grace. Besides, we have more pressing matters at the moment. Tywin Lannister is sailing here as we speak and we need to prepare the fleet to meet him in battle."

The Queen nodded and said, "We have both the royal fleet, and 40 warships that came from Driftmark with Admiral Velaryon."

In the next few hours they prepared the fleet for battle at daybreak and Rhaegar explained the situation to the garrison who had seen Aurora change. He told them the story that would become common knowledge around the seven kingdoms.

Aurora and Gabrielle had lived in the ruins of Old Valeria since the days of The Doom. Through some kind of ancient magic, they had lived for many thousands of years and gained certain special abilities. They were dragon riders and the dragon that the garrison had shot down was wounded, but still alive and had flown away to safety to heal, but they expected her to return soon.

When the fleet was ready, they set sail towards The Gullet to blockade the exit out of Blackwater Bay. Aurora and Gabrielle quietly snuck out and went back to where the saddle was left on the ground outside the walls of Dragonstone. After they had repaired the cut ropes and lines, Aurora changed again and Gabrielle put the saddle back in its place. Gabrielle mounted the saddle and Aurora lifted off from the ground, flying over the fortress and meeting up with the fleet. The sailors on the royal fleet all cheered when they saw her outline flying above them in the weak light of the full moon.

In the early light of dawn, Tywin was rudely awoken by someone pounding on his door. "Lord Tywin, Lord Tywin, you are needed on the bridge." The panicking tone of the man told Tywin that something was wrong, so he quickly dressed and made his way to the deck of the ship.

As soon as he set foot in the early light of the pre dawn, he saw what had the man so panicked. The sea ahead of them, between the tip of Massey's Hook and Driftmark, was closed off by a massive fleet of ships. It looked like the entire royal fleet from Dragonstone, 160 warships, joined by the Velaryon fleet of 40 warships. However that was not what had his men panicking, the 257 ships they had taken from King's Landing would probably be able to break through the blockade, though not without taking significant losses.

No, what had his man panicking was the beast that hung above the royal fleet. A massive red and black dragon hung in the sky, lazily flapping its immense wings and upon its back, small from the distance but still recognizable, was a rider. They were trapped.

Of the ships they had taken, only 60 were warships and of those sixty only half had adequate firepower to even have a chance at bringing down a dragon. Just as Tywin thought the situation couldn't get worse, the dragon flew towards them dragging the _Queen Rhaella_ behind it. The flagship of the royal fleet was flying a white flag, so they must be willing to offer terms.

Those hopes were crushed however when he saw an eerily familiar, golden blond, young man, strapped to the bow of the _Queen Rhaella_ , they had Jamie, they had his son.

In a matter of minutes, the _Queen Rhaella_ had pulled up next to the _Prince Viserys_ , and a gangplank was laid between. Prince Rhaegar and Admiral Lucerys Veraryon walked across and a rope was tossed down from the dragon that hung above them. A heavily armored figure descended the rope and landed with a clank of metal on the deck of Tywin's stolen ship, before standing on the right hand of Rhaegar.

"Prince Rhaegar," Tywin said with all the disdain he could put into his voice.

"That's King Rhaegar for you, traitor," Admiral Lucerys spat out. "Thanks to your boy over there." He gestured off-handedly to Jamie who was struggling against his bindings.

Rhaegar motioned for the admiral to stand down and he stepped forward until he stood face to face with Tywin. "Right now you have two choices Tywin. If you surrender your fleet and order your men to lay down their weapons, all of their lives will be spared. They will be allowed to return home to the Westerlands, after they have helped to rebuild the damage they have done to the city. You, Cersei, and Jamie will be allowed to take a single ship and go into exile in Essos.

And yes, we have Cersei as well. She was caught by Paxter Redwyne trying to leave Lannisport by ship. Lord Randyll immediately spread the word of your betrayal after the defeat of Lord Mace, and Paxter led the Redwyne fleet to Lannisport. He has your daughter in custody and your son Tyrion has surrendered Casterly rock to him.

If you decide not to surrender, we will feed Jamie to her," he aimed at the dragon while saying this, "before we burn your entire fleet to ashes. I'll leave you alive and have you watch, while the entire garrison of the King's Landing takes your daughter and uses her as the whore that she is. Make your choice Tywin, you have one hour."

Rhaegar turned around with Admiral Lucerys behind him when Tywin moved, he drew his sword with a speed no one would have expected from him, and tried to slash Rhaegar in the back.

His sword never reached its target. The dragon rider caught his sword with one hand and snapped the blade off as if it was a twig.

Rhaegar didn't even look back while he said, "Oh before I forget, she'll be staying here while you decide your fate, and that of your family and your men." Rhaegar calmly stepped back onboard the _Queen Rhaella_ and the crew withdrew the gangplank, leaving Gabrielle behind on the _Prince Viserys_.

Tywin tried to ignore the silent rider that was watching his every move, and ordered his crew to signal for his commanders to come onboard his ship. It took less than ten minutes for them all to be gathered on his ship and they withdrew to the cargo hold and out of sight of Gabrielle.

"We have no choice but to surrender," Lord Elys Westerling said loudly after they had heard what Rhaegar had told Tywin. "We cannot defeat a dragon, and the combined fleets of the Targaryans and the Velaryons. If we surrender now, we will be spared and allowed to go home, which is more than we deserve." That last part he added in his head and no one heard him say it.

"Nonsense," cried Lord Andros Brax, "If we concentrate all our fire power on that dragon we can bring it down and then punch a hole through the royal fleet and…."

"Did you not see what that dragon did to our men outside the city?" Interrupted Elys Westerling, "I was near the wall, when that beast attacked. Our men were burned by the thousands. I didn't see it again after it landed, but the two who rode on it just barely missed me. We cannot defeat them. They alone killed almost as many in the city, as that dragon did outside.

I for one have already made my choice. I will order my men to lay down their weapons and surrender. We will live to fight another day." With those words Elys Westerling rose from the table and left the others sitting in the cargo hold.

When he came topside he immediately went over to where the rider was standing and drew his sword. He knelt before her and placed the sword at her feet. "I, Elys Westerling, Lord of the Crag, surrender myself, and all those who follow me, to the mercy of the one true king, Rhaegar Targaryan."

The armored figure looked down on him for half a minute before removing the helmet. "In the name of his Grace, Rhaegar Targaryan, first of his name, I accept your surrender Lord Westerling."

Elys was surprised at the gentle and feminine voice that was completely ad odds with the fearsome looks of the armor and he looked cautiously upwards.

Gabrielle smiled kindly at him and continued, "Because you were the first to make the right choice, you will be treated better than the others. Take up your sword, Lord Elys, and return to your ships. Order your men to lower their banners, hoist the white flags and return to the city, you will be awaited by Lord Eddard Stark, he will tell you what to do."

Elys bowed again before he picked up his sword and made his way to a sloop in which he was rowed back to his own squadron. In short order he had his men follow the directions the women had given him and his ship, and the fifteen others under his command, turned around and sailed back to the city.

While Lord Elys was sailing back to the city, the rest of the lords made their way topside and one by one, they laid their swords at her feet and offered their surrender. Last to go before Gabrielle, was Tywin himself.

He had borrowed a sword from one of his men, as Gabrielle had broken his own, and laid it at her feet with the words, "I, Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, Shield of Lannisport and Warden of the West, surrender myself and all those who follow me to the mercy of Rhaegar Targaryan, the one true king of Westeros."

Gabrielle felt not a little bit of grim satisfaction as she noticed the defeated look on Tywin's face. It would appear that the proud 'Lion of the Rock' had finally been brought low. The pain on his face became even more obvious when he ordered his men to lower the lion banner from the mast. He handed it to Gabrielle with the words, "Give this to your king and tell him, he has won."

Gabrielle looked down at the fallen Lion and smiled a grim smile. "Very well. In the name of his Grace, Rhaegar Targaryan, first of his name, I accept your surrender Tywin Lannister."

As soon as the Lannister banner was lowered, the _Queen Rhaella_ rowed back towards them and went aside again. Putting the gangplank between them again, Rhaegar boarded the _Prince_ _Viserys_ and once he stood on the deck, all the lords kneeled before him and Gabrielle handed him the banner Tywin had given her.

Rhaegar accepted the banner, and holding it before him, he tore the golden lion on red in two pieces. The crew of the _Queen Rhaella_ loudly cheered when Rhaegar tore up the banner and the rest of the royal fleet followed their example. Above their heads the gigantic dragon let out a bellowing roar of victory and the Lannister fleet sailed back towards King's Landing. All the lords were brought aboard the _Queen Rhaella_ and put in irons below decks, with Jamie being pulled from the mast and locked up below alongside his father.

Admiral Velaryon was put in command of the royal fleet that escorted the Lannister fleet back to the city, while Gabrielle and Rhaegar climbed back on the saddle on Aurora, before she flew back to Dragonstone to pick up Queen Rhaella, the Princesses Rhaenys and Lyanna, and Sers Barristan and Arthur, before flying back to King's Landing.

It soon became apparent that Rhaenys absolutely loved to fly and she loudly cheered when Aurora jumped up from the courtyard at Dragonstone. Whether it was because of the alleged, 'blood of the dragon', or just pure coincidence, both Rhaegar and his mother shared his daughter's enthusiasm of flying and they were almost saddened that the trip only took half an hour.

When they landed in the courtyard of the Red Keep it was the first chance for the inhabitants of King's Landing to get a really good look at the dragon that had helped save them. It came as no surprise that the reactions varied greatly. The smallfolk cheered loudly in admiration and awe, the nobility were afraid what this new player would mean for their own power in the land, and the Faith spoke of an ungodly creature that had to be destroyed.

As soon as they had landed the passengers climbed down from Aurora's back, before she rose up again and lazily flew over the city towards the great Dragonpit on Rhaenys's Hill where she flew down into its depts. From which she emerged in human form a few minutes later.

People respectfully cleared the way for her, as many had seen the armored behemoth's carve their bloody path through the Lannister soldiers. And since she wore her helmet, no one was gaping at the fact that she was a women, but just showed the respect that they thought she rightfully deserved, regardless of sex, or station.

During the hour long walk from the pit to the Red Keep, Aurora was shocked by the things she saw in the city. Despite, or perhaps because, it was the poorest part of the city, Flea Bottom had stayed clear of the plundering but fires had sprung up none-the-less and large parts of the area were only blackened skeletons of what once were tightly-packed hovels. How many had perished in the flames she didn't dare guess, but it was without a doubt a multitude of many thousands, if not tens-of-thousands.

On the way she passed the Great Sept of Baelor and when she saw the poorest people of the city, often wounded, helplessly pound on the closed doors, she had had enough of this so called, Faith of the Seven.

She pulled aside a patrol of Rivermen and asked the knight in charge, "Where can I find Lord Eddard?"

The man thought for a moment and said, "I believe he is in the Street of Steel my lady, there was a small riot there which he had to solve."

She thanked the man with a nod and said, "Thank you Ser, please gather as many men as you can and surround the Great Sept, make sure no one gets in, and no one gets out."

He knight saluted and began giving orders to his men to spread out and find the other patrols.

Aurora made her way to the Street of Steel and soon she saw Eddard. He was seated on a brown mare with Roose Bolton and Rickard Karstark on either side of him. They were accompanied by three score mounted soldiers and about 300 foot soldiers.

As soon as Eddard saw Aurora approach he inclined his head and said respectfully, "My lady, I had not expected to see you here. I thought you had gone with Rhaegar to stop the Lannister fleet?"

"The fleet has been stopped, lord Eddard, the royal fleet is escorting them back to the city, we expect them early tomorrow. We just returned from the trip and when I came past the Great Sept, I saw something that bothered me. Would you be so kind as to help me out with all the men you can find. We need to remind some people that the King's orders are not to be ignored."

Eddard nodded grimly at her words, the Greatjon had informed him of what had transpired on the steps of the Red Keep the previous day, and he was not surprised when she led them towards the Great Sept.

The men Eddard had brought joined the roughly 400 already present at the Great Sept and together they surrounded the Sept and got the people away from the doors.

When the steps were cleared Aurora walked to the door and banged loudly on it. "IN THE NAME OF KING RHAEGAR, I ORDER YOU TO OPEN THIS DOOR!"

She waited for two minutes but when no reply came she turned her helmet towards Eddard and said, "Keep the people in line, we don't want anyone to start plundering." Eddard nodded once and rode away to give orders to his men.

Turning back to the massive doors of the Sept, Aurora pulled the great battle axe from the holder on her back and started 'knocking'. It took her 6 blows to create a hole large enough for her to enter and she removed the beam keeping the door closed before making her way further into the Sept.

She was soon confronted by five crudely-armed men in black robes each with a seven-pointed star carved into their foreheads and a criss-cross of chains between shoulder and hip.

"Hmm," Aurora mused out loud, "Wasn't the Faith Militant outlawed like, 235 years ago?"

The leader stepped forward and replied, "Our order has never been disbanded, we just went underground. But that does not matter. You have broken into the temple of our Faith, and for that transgression you must die."

At his words his fellow's joined him and the leader struck out with his nail covered mace. He smashed the mace into the side of Aurora's helmet but to his surprise, the wooden hilt of the mace snapped like a twig and Aurora's hand shot out like lightning.

She grabbed the man by the throat and with an almost effortless motion, she broke his neck. The other four started hitting her as well and grabbing her axe with both hands she swung it in a 180° move in front of her, cutting three of them in half. While the innards of his fellows fell from their ruined bodies, the last one tried to run away.

He didn't get far, before he went more than 4 feet the back spike of Aurora's axe slammed into his upper leg. She pulled the man towards her, ripping open his leg in the process.

Tearing the spike out of the man's leg, she slammed the top spike into his shoulder, nailing him to the floor under him. "Okay listen up maggot, we can do this two ways. One, you tell me what I want to know and I'll end your suffering. Or you don't tell me what I want to know, and I'll make it last weeks, before you die."

The man kept his teeth firmly stuck together and refused to say a word.

With a sigh Aurora muttered, "I fucking hate these religious fanatics." She pulled the axe from the man's shoulder and walking past him, she lifted her foot and slammed it down on his head, smashing it apart in a shower of gore and pieces of bone.

Leaving the carnage behind she continued on her way until she came upon a servant who was lighting candles in a small chapel. Aurora quickly entered the chapel and slammed the door closed behind her, startling the young woman in the process. She dropped the candle she used to light the others and tried to crawl away into a corner.

"You don't have to get hurt, if you tell me what I want to know. Where are the High Septon and the Most Devout."

The young woman was stuttering in fear but she said, "Th… th… they… a… are… are… i… in…. the… thei… their… pri… priv…. private… ch… chap… chapel. U… up… the… st… stairs… all… t… t… the way… u… up." she pointed to a side door of the chapel they were in and tried to make herself even smaller.

"Thank you," Aurora said not unkindly but her helmet made it sound metallic and not at all reassuring to the young woman. Leaving the young woman behind, Aurora pulled the door open which lead to a spiral staircase. Taking the steps two at a time, she ran up and on the way she came past a dining room.

The table was literally bending under the weight of all the food on it and the sight alone caused her anger to grow even more. Outside these walls people were starving to death, but here they ate like it was harvest season. Snarling softly to herself she continued up the stairs till she reached the very peak.

Coming from behind the door, at the top of the stairs, were sounds one would not expect to hear from a chapel.

The voice of a young girl could be heard that asked a little frightfully, "Are, are you sure this is the way to salvation your holiness?"

"Of course it is, girl. Now get on your back and spread those legs." The voice that answered belonged to the High Septon.

"The same goes for you, you little sinner. On your back and open those legs, I want to see what offerings you bring to The Father." The third voice was that of the Most Devout.

'KRACK', with a mighty kick Aurora kicked the door off of its hinges and saw a disgusting sight. The two fat men were standing undressed in front of two young girls, they looked like twins and didn't seem a day past 8 name days.

Both had shoulder-length hair, the same color of silver blonde as Rhaegar had and one had deep purple eyes, whereas the other had lavender blue eyes. The one with the blue eyes had a lot of freckles on her face and neck, but otherwise they looked very much alike.

To Aurora's anger, she saw that both girls were naked and the two men were staring at them with lust-filled eyes, until she entered.

"WHO DARES…" but those were the last words the Most Devout ever spoke, as Aurora swung her axe in a downwards arch and cut the obese man in two, from his skull to his groin. The two halves slumped down and the two girls started screaming and crying in fear.

The High Septon seamed frozen in fear until Aurora grabbed him by the neck and threw him down the stairs. They could hear him scream in pain as he made his way down, it was four floors to the next landing.

Turning to the girls Aurora removed her helmet and hung it on a special hook on her belt, before smiling kindly at the children. "Do not be afraid sweethearts, I will not hurt you, nor will they ever again." this last she said with a nudge of her head towards the two halves of the Most Devout that lay in an ever expanding pool of blood.

She spotted a pile of clothing and handed it to the shivering children. "Here, put these on and lets go find your parents. Do you know where they are?"

The two girls started crying again and one of them said softly, "We never knew our father, and the red men killed our three brothers. Our mother told us to hide but when we came out she was dead as well. A septon came by our house yesterday and brought us here. They said that it was our fault that our parents were dead. They said that we were sinners and the gods punished us by taking away our family, and we had to… had to…"

Aurora shook her head and said softly, "Don't say it. They lied to you. You are not sinners. Your parents were killed because bad people were afraid of good people, and in their fear they did horrible things." The girls were sobbing softly while Aurora helped them to get dressed.

When they were dressed, Aurora said, "Now look away kids, you don't want to see this. The kids did what she said and with a single swing of her axe, she separated the two parts of the Most Devout's head from their respective body half, and wrapped them in a robe that lay in a corner.

Standing up again she put the bundle of bloodied cloth in a small net that hung from her belt. After putting her axe back in its holder on her back, Aurora gave each of the girls a hand and asked, "What are your names? Mine is Aurora."

The one with the purple eyes spoke and said, "My name is Silvana, and she is Lissena, we don't have a last name as we don't know who our father was, we're bastards." This last part was added softly while Aurora led them to the door and they descended the stairs.

There were blood spatters on some of the steps and it was obvious that the High Septon's descent had not been a pleasant experience for the fat man. When they came on the landing of the dining room, the girls sniffed hopefully and noticing the hungry look in their eyes she asked, "When was the last time either of you had anything to eat?"

The girls on her left, Silvana, answered saying, "The morning of the day that the red men came. The septons said we had to fast until we had repented for our sins."

Growling softly beneath her breath Aurora led the girls into the dining room and said, "Take whatever you want. You need to eat to keep up your strength." The girls immediately did what she said and for the next five minutes they wolfed down everything they could get their hands on.

When they had eaten their fill Aurora took their hands again and they continued on their way down. When they reached a balustrade that allowed them to see into the Sept below them, they saw at least 2 score of Faith Militant surrounding the entrance to the stairs they were on. On the other side they saw the High Septon lying on a bench, moaning, with several Septas fussing over him and tending to his wounds.

Turning to the girls on either side of her Aurora said, "Stay here girls, I'll deal with those fanatics." With a gentle smile she gave them both a kiss on their foreheads before she put on her helmet again. walking down the stairs she drew the two swords from her back and spun them around in her hands.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the Sept proper, she was immediately attacked by half a dozen of the Faith Militant, who died before they even realized it.

Aurora spun the swords faster than the naked eye could follow and the crude maces and staffs used by the Faith were splintered and cut in half as if they were made of reed.

When the first 6 lay dead at her feet, she turned to the others and said in her metallic voice, "Lay down your weapons and surrender, or I'll send you on your way to meet those false gods of yours."

As expected, the fanatics came storming towards her en-mass and soon the floor was slippery and the black steel of her swords and armor was slick with the life-blood of the fanatics. It took her a mere five minutes to dispose of the forty or so, Faith Militant. Had they been proper knights, clad in steel and wielding real weapons, she would have been able to enjoy it a lot more, but alas, you can't have everything handed to you.

When the last of the fanatics had dropped to the ground, his head cut clean off and his guts spilling out of a large cut in his side, she turned her attention to the High Septon.

" And now it's your turn, you fat fucking bastard." She stepped towards the bench, dripping with blood and with the two swords still in her hands, causing the septa's to flee. The poor excuse of a man was whimpering in fear and pain, but couldn't move much, as judging by the splints, he had broken both his legs and arms when she had thrown him down the stairs.

Stabbing one of her swords into the marble floor, she tore the blanket from his sniffling body and started to clean the blade in her right hand. when it was clean she put it back in its scabbard and repeated the process with the second sword. When both were clean she turned her head towards the balcony above and said to the two girls, "Its safe for you to come down now. Don't look at the mess, some people just leave about everything lying around. "

Turning back to the High Septon, she drew a dagger from her hip and started to remove the splints saying, "You won't be needing these anymore. We don't want you to miss out on part of your repentance, now do we, ' _your holiness'_."

She put as much venom in those two words as she could and only the small hand that grabbed hers, stopped her from ripping the man's throat out when she saw the arrogant, yet pained look of the man on hearing his favorite title.

Lissena had grabbed her left hand and was now hugging her tightly, not looking at the bodies that were strewn all around them. Aurora picked her up in her arms and held her on her left arm, not minding the blood that seeped into the rough wool of her simple dress. Silvana went to stand next to her sister, holding onto Aurora's elbow.

With her right hand she grabbed the left ankle of the High Septon and pulled him from the bench, completely ignoring his screams of pain, and started pulling him towards the hole she had made earlier in the doors of the Sept.

Kicking the doors open with a nudge of her foot, Aurora walked out of the Sept.


	5. Chapter 5

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 5

Lord Eddard Stark was getting a little worried. It was well over half an hour since Aurora had entered the Great Sept, yet besides some noise shortly after she entered, not a sound has been heard from within since.

Suddenly the doors at the top of the stairs were violently kicked open and when he looked up he saw something he would never have imagined. Standing there at the top of the stairs was Aurora. She was covered in blood from head to toe, but that wasn't what surprised him and everyone else.

She was accompanied by two small children, one on her arm and the other besides her. In the other hand she held the ankle of a screaming, yelling, and rather fat, man. Giving a single tug on the ankle, even from down the stairs Eddard could hear the bone snap, she threw the man down the stairs where he remained silent and unmoving.

Motioning to one of his soldiers, Eddard said, "You there, check who it is."

"Don't bother Lord Stark." Aurora said from atop the stairs. "That would be ' _His Holiness_ ', the High Septon. And here you have his buddy the Most Devout." While she said this, she pulled a bloodied bundle of cloth from a net on her belt and threw it down next to the body of the High Septon.

The soldier he had spoken to earlier, pried the clothing away with the tip of his spear and revealed the two halves of a bald head. At that moment the High Septon regained consciousness and he started yelling for help.

"KEEP YOUR TONGUE SILENT OR I WILL RIP IT OUT YOU MONSTER!" Aurora roared from the top of the stairs, and the man immediately shut up while Aurora carefully descended the stairs. The two girls were oddly quiet, considering everything they had been through the last few days.

When she came down the stairs she snapped her fingers and pointed to one of the mounted soldiers besides Eddard, "You there, I need to borrow your horse." The man looked questioningly at Eddard, who immediately motioned for him to comply, he hadn't known her for that long, but he was sure Aurora was not happy at the moment, and it would be best not to antagonize her.

When the man had dismounted his horse, Aurora put Lissena in the saddle, before reaching down for Silvana and putting her behind her sister. Turning to Eddard again she said, "I'm taking these two to the Red Keep, make sure everyone stays out of that building. There are things going on there that cannot bear the light of day and we need to investigate this further before we allow anyone to step foot in that place.

Spread the word that any septon or septa is to be arrested on sight. We can sort the good ones out later." Eddard nodded curtly at her and turned to Roose Bolton and Rickard Karstark, who sat on their horses a few yards away.

After Eddard gave his orders, the two lords rode off to spread the word amongst their soldiers, and Aurora walked towards the Red Keep, with the two children on the horse next to her.

Not being able to contain his curiosity, Eddard walked up the stairs, followed by two of his house guards, and looked into the hole in the massive doors. The sound of retching came from next to him and he didn't need to ask what the cause was. The floor of the Great Sept was covered in bodies, few of which were still in one piece, and the middle ring was entirely filled with blood, in which a few lost arms and a leg were floating.

Swallowing past his own nausea, Eddard stepped inside and studied the closest corpse. The seven-pointed star on the forehead of the man spoke volumes. In the North, the Faith of the Seven was not as widespread as it was in the South, but he was still able to easily recognize the outfit of a member of the Faith Militant.

Shaking his head Eddard stepped out of the doors again and to the waiting soldiers and citizens who all looked up to him, he spoke, "It would seem that the Faith Militant is not as extinct as we were all led to believe. Please be on your guard around anyone who is hiding their face or wearing a hood. Any confrontation with, or sighting of, a member of the Faith Militant is to be reported immediately to the nearest patrol of soldiers."

Aurora was slowly making her way back to the Red Keep while simultaneously holding a telepathic conversation with Gabrielle, " _What do you think we should do with them Gabby? We can't just let them be_ _sent_ _off to some orphanage, they have been through too much to be able to cope in such an environment."_

' _Sigh', "It's always the same with you. But what do you want to do with them, it's not like we know that many people who are willing to take in two little orphan girls who have seen way too much for their age, and will probably have nightmares for the rest of their days."_

" _Well, we do know two very lovely women who can't have children of their own, and I know one of them thinks they're very cute."_

" _Is there anything I can do to talk you out of this?"_

" _Do you even need to ask, of course there isn't. Hasn't 5,000 years of marriage told you anything about how stubborn I am, once my mind is set on something."_

" _Yea, Yea, I know. Fine, we'll keep them, but_ only _if they want it themselves and if Rhaegar agrees. You know the rules, we cannot take in children unless we have been given permission by their legal guardian, which in this case would be the King."_

" _Thank you sweetie, I'll give you a proper thank you once we can find the time for it."_

" _You better come through on that promise, or I'll be the 'dragon-tamer' next time."_

" _Yes Love,"_ Aurora closed their connection with a little shiver, she was stubborn, but if Gabrielle wanted something, it would happen one way or another. Turning her helmet to the two kids she said in a gentle tone, which was completely transformed into something very amusing, judging by their reactions, "I can't wait till you two meet my partner, you'll love her."

"Your partner?" Asked Lissena curiously, "Are you married?"

Aurora nodded her helmet and said, "Yea, we have been married for _a while."_

Silvana had paid more attention than her sister and had noticed something else, "What do you mean, we'll love _her._ Are you married to another woman?"

Aurora nodded her helmet and replied, "Yes, I am. Her name is Gabrielle."

"But in Westeros it is not allowed to be married to a girl if you are a girl yourself."

Aurora chuckled softly but the sound was echoed by her helmet and it sounded rather creepy. "We are not from Westeros. We come from the ruins of Valyria. Where we have lived for a _very_ long time."

The two girls remained quiet for the remainder of the trip to the Red Keep but when they entered the keep, they both looked wide-eyed around them and said in unison, "Wow, this place is huge."

Aurora chuckled again softly under her breath until she stopped before the gates that led to the throne room. She picked the girls out of the saddle and put them on the ground, before handing the reigns of the horse to a stable boy and telling him who it belonged to.

Taking the girls by the hand she led them up the stairs and they entered the Great Keep. The girls were gaping at the many things that they saw all around them. The southern knights in their polished armor. Rugged northmen with thick beards, carrying big axes or great swords. The ladies of the court in their pretty dresses and giggling amongst each other while they were admiring the many knights who were strutting around like peacock's.

When they reached the throne room it was laden with people, lords, knights, men-at-arms and ladies of the court were all gathered in the great room and listening to Rhaegar who stood on the elevation on the other side of the throne room, before the Iron Throne, with his mother on his right and his daughter before him. Gabrielle had taken up a position in front of the elevation with the current six members of the Kingsguard on either side of her.

"My lords, my ladies, it is with great regret that I have to tell you that the losses this city and this country have endured are caused by only two men. One did this because of jealousy and the other did it because of a hunger for power.

Both men have been taken prisoner and are awaiting their trial. But there are more pressing matters to attend to. This city has suffered greatly and though we will likely never know the true number of people who died in the fires in Flea Bottom, we estimate that the Lannister betrayal alone, cost this city over a 120,000 lives.

To my shame I have to admit that this fire was able to spread so wildly because the alchemist's guild had placed caches of Wildfire all around this city." Rhaegar raised his hands to quiet the uproarious crowd and when the noise had died down again he continued.

"This was done on the orders of the man who sat on the Iron Throne. I will not call him my father ever again, because like I said to the Lords, Stark, Arryn and Tully, my father died in the dungeons of Duskendale and the thing that came back from there is nothing like the man I remembered.

At this very moment the Wildfire is removed from all known locations and I have soldiers searching every catacomb and tunnel there is to locate and remove all of it. It will be removed from this city and destroyed at sea, where it can do no harm.

The trials for all those involved in this war will commence two weeks from now, but our first order of business is to see to the needs of the people of this city. Much of the food stored in this city was destroyed in the fires, the riches have been plundered by the Lannisters, who are arriving as we speak and taken into custody, and great parts of the city have been destroyed.

We will need to rebuild all of this, if this city is to ever recover its former glory. In order to achieve this I have given orders to confiscate all riches of Casterly Rock and they will be used to rebuild this city. Further punishment will be decided on after the trials for all those involved. I thank you all for your attention, good day to all of you."

When he finished Rhaegar and his family stepped away from the throne and walked towards the door leading in the direction of Maegor's Holdfast, followed by Gabrielle and the Kingsguard. Picking the girls up and protecting them in her arms, Aurora made her way through the crowd and followed the others towards the Holdfast.

Once they were all in the hallway outside the doors, the others waited for Aurora to join them as Rhaegar had seen her in the crowd and was curious as to the two girls she had with her.

When Aurora had joined them she softly shook her head at Rhaegar's questioning look and motioned for him to keep walking.

Lyanna was waiting for them in a large sitting room in the Holdfast. It had been decided to keep her, and her pregnancy, away from the public until they were officially married before the city, which would happen the same day as Rhaegar's coronation, which was a day before the trials would start.

Once they had all sat down, Silvana and Lissena on either side of Aurora and clinging to her tightly, Rhaegar asked, "Would you mind telling us why it took you so long to get back here, why you are covered in blood, and who these two are, and why they are here?"

Aurora nodded softly and started her tale. "First things first," she pointed to the girl on her right and said, "This is Silvana, and her sister is Lissena. Girls, that is Gabrielle, my wife, the man next to her is King Rhaegar, though he has not been crowned yet. The women on the other side of him is Princess Lyanna Stark, Rhaegar's wife, and the last one is Queen Rhaella."

Silvana and Lissena went beet-red when they heard their names but they all gave them a gentle smile to put them at ease and Lyanna said, "Don't worry dears, you're amongst friends here, so no need to go kneeling or saying, 'your grace' in every sentence."

The girls nodded, still red-faced and Aurora continued with her story. "When I was walking back from the Dragonpit, I came past the Great Sept. Contrary to your orders, the doors were firmly shut and not a single septon or septa could be seen helping the people. Wounded and starving people were banging on and begging at the doors but were completely ignored.

I decided that it was high time those arrogant pricks were taught a lesson. So I found Eddard, and with his help and around 800 soldiers, I cleared the area of the Sept and broke down the door.

Soon after I entered I was attacked by five members of the Faith Militant, yes apparently they were never disbanded, just hidden, but I dealt with them easily enough. Making my way through the Sept I finely found the High Septon and his buddy the Most Devout.

They were in the topmost room of the Sept, about to do some unspeakable things to these two sweethearts here." At this Queen Rhaella was shocked and paled as she imagined what would have happened to the girls had Aurora come only a few minutes later. The reactions of Lyanna and Rhaegar were an entirely different matter.

Gabrielle scowled and muttered curses under her breath, but Rhaegar was furious. "Where are those bastards," he hissed. "I'll have them flayed alive."

Aurora grinned darkly and said, "Yea well it's a little late for that."

Before she could tell them what she did, Silvana spoke up, she nodded quickly and said, "They wanted to do odd things with us, but before they could, Aurora came in and chopped one of the fat men in two pieces."

Gabrielle slightly raised her eyebrows and to answer the unasked question, Aurora said, "I split the Most Devout from head to groin, and I threw the High Septon down the stairs, four floors."

"Hmpff," the Queen scoffed, "Serves them right, I never liked them anyway."

Rhaegar wholeheartedly agreed with his mother and Aurora continued. "When we came past a dining room I noticed that they both smelled at the air with a famished expression and they said that the septons had told them to fast, so they hadn't eaten since the day before the sacking."

Ignoring the sounds of anger and outrage of her companions, Aurora kept talking. "Once I had made sure they had both eaten their fill, we continued down the stairs until we came upon a balcony overlooking the interior of the Great Sept.

40 or so, members of the Faith Militant were blocking our exit, so I told the girls to wait for me on the balcony and went down to take care of those fanatics."

"On your own?" the Queen asked with a little disbelieve. "You went 40 to 1 and came out without a scratch?"

"Well, not exactly," Aurora replied with a grin. She showed them her left hand and said, "I broke a nail when I smashed in the face of one of them." She showed them her index finger and there was a very small piece broken off of the top of the nail.

Gabrielle shook her head and laughed softly at the Queen's gob smacked expression.

"Mother," Rhaegar began with a hint of amusement in his voice, "Aurora went toe to toe with Robert Baratheon at the Trident. She beat him down no less then eleven times, whilst being _unarmed_ herself."

"Yea, she's really strong," Lissena added her opinion of the whole thing.

"Thanks sweetheart," Aurora said with a smile while hugging the girl tightly against her side.

"But anyway, to get on with the story, once I had taken care of the rabble, I told the girls to come down and I picked them up while I dragged the, miraculously still alive, High Septon out of the Sept and threw him down the steps, where he landed before the feet of Eddard's horse.

Adding the parts of the Most Devout's head, I told them that the Sept was off limits to everyone until we could mount a full investigation into these matters. Also I told them to arrest every septon and septa they came across, we can sort out the good from the bad later. After that I borrowed a horse and rode the kids here."

Rhaegar and the Queen nodded but Lyanna asked, "What I don't understand is why Silvana and Lissena where in the Great Sept in the first place. Shouldn't they have been with their parents?"

At her words both girls burst out in tears and buried their heads in Aurora's soft fur cloak. Looking at Lyanna with a stony expression, Aurora said, "I had left that out on purpose, Lyanna."

Said young woman turned red and slammed her hands over her mouth, "O I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

The girls ignored her, or just didn't hear her over the sound of their own sobbing, and Aurora said, "Well the damage is done anyway, so I might as well just tell you this now.

Their brothers were killed in the sack and so was their mother. They never knew their sire, because when the father of their brothers died, their mother was forced to do certain things to keep the roof over their head and food on the table. And Silvana and Lissena are the result of that."

"Oh you poor things," the Queen said compassionately and she dropped to her knees before the couch on which they were seated and she continued, "Do you have any other family that could look after you?"

Silvana shook her head and said softly, "No, mother had no family left, as they all died of illness when she was young. And our brothers were too young to be married."

With a small sigh Rhaegar said, "There is no way we can let them stay in the keep, I have no doubt that there are hundreds, if not thousands of other orphans. We do not have the means to care for them all, and if we take in two, the others will demand the same."

Aurora nodded knowingly and replied, "We know, but we might have a solution."

Both Silvana and Lissena looked hopeful, as they knew enough to realize that they would most likely end up on the streets if they weren't taken in by anyone.

"Go on," Rhaegar said while motioning her to continue.

"Gabrielle and I could take them in." before anyone could object Aurora raised her hand to interrupt them and she continued. "I'm not just saying that. Their father must have been of Valerian descent, judging by their hair and eyes, and I have felt something within them that we have also felt with you, Rhaegar, and with your mother and your daughter.

It is not as strong as it is with us, it never could be as strong, but you all have small traces of dragon blood within your bodies. This means that when, not if, but _when,_ we find any dragon eggs, you'll all be viable to hatch, raise and eventually, ride one."

The silence that fell in the room was almost deafening until Rhaella said, "Are you saying that you know how to hatch dragon eggs?"

At the identical nods she received in answer, Rhaella added, "It is a closely guarded secret, as far as I know, only I know about it, but on Dragonstone there is still a clutch of dragon eggs, left there by Aegon before he conquered the Seven Kingdoms. They are said to have been laid by Vhagar and sired by Balerion.

Many other heirlooms of our house, from when they were still living in Valyria, are said to be left there as well, but it has never been found as we no longer had the means to open it. I have searched for the entrance for many years but was never able find it. I read about it in a book but I can't remember where in the book or what it said exactly."

Rolling her shoulders, Aurora said with a grin, "Well then, what are we waiting for. We need to get there as soon as possible."

Rhaegar nodded thoughtfully but said, "As much as I would like to come with you, I cannot leave the city again. We are expecting the Lannister fleet to arrive tomorrow morning, and I need to be there to ensure that the peace is kept."

Rhaella nodded at his words and said, "I agree, my son. You, Lyanna and Rhaenys should stay here. Tomorrow, I'll go with them to find the entrance."

Rhaegar nodded but before he could say anything, Lissena spoke, "But what is going to happen with us?"

Aurora looked with a raised eyebrow at Rhaegar, as since they were orphans, they were technically under the crowns protection. With a single nod, he changed the lives of both girls forever.

"You sweethearts," Aurora said while looking down on the girls with a fond smile on her lips, "are coming with us, if you want to. Gabrielle and I will be your new parents, if you want us to be."

Both girls looked wide-eyed between Aurora and Gabrielle and when they finally realized they were all waiting for an answer, both girls nodded their heads frantically and hugged Aurora before going over to Gabrielle and hugging her as well.

"Now that that matter is solved, I think we should get some clean clothes for these two as they are covered in blood, as are you love." Gabrielle looked a little pointedly at Aurora, who looked down at herself and the girls and looked back up with a sheepish grin on her face.

"Yea that might be a good idea."

Rhaella spoke up next and said, "I'll have the servants bring new clothes for the girls, I'm sure there are some of my old dresses still laying around somewhere."

Gabrielle thanked her with a small nod before she and Aurora rose up and each took one of the girls in their arms. It had been a long and terrifying day for them and they were quickly being overtaken by sleep.

Taking their leave of the royal family, Aurora and Gabrielle were led to their chambers by one of the servants. They were led to the upper floor of the Holdfast where they were shown a large set of rooms that had been reserved for them.

Putting the children on the bed, where they quickly laid down and dozed off, the two adults began to explore their rooms. They had been given two bedrooms, a sitting room with balcony, and a modest bathroom. To their delight they found a large wooden tub in the bathroom, easily capable of holding at least two people, which was filled with lukewarm water.

Deciding to exploit the opportunity, they helped each other out of their armor and hung it on two mannequins that were removed from the bottom-less pouch on Gabrielle's belt.

When they were both dressed only in their small clothes, someone knocked on the door. They took two dressing gown's from a pair of hooks in the bathroom before making their way back to the door and opening it.

In the doorway stood Lyanna, followed by a pair of ladies-in-waiting, who both carried a pile of clothing. Lyanna looked them up and down and noted half out loud, "Hmm you're a lot less impressive when you're not wearing your armor."

Seeing as without their armor they both stood at 'only' 6 foot 4, they still towered over most others, but not by as much as when they wore their armor and were 7 feet tall.

"Well thanks for the compliment," Aurora said a little amusedly and to her enjoyment, she noticed a small blush appear on Lyanna's face.

She quickly regained control though and said, "I have come to bring you the invitation of my husband, and the Queen, to join us for the evening meal, and some clothes, as we didn't know if you have anything else to wear besides your armor."

The ladies-in-waiting made to enter the room but Gabrielle spoke up and said, "That won't be required. The girls are sleeping and we don't want to wake them, so please just hand us the clothes and we'll join you in an hour or so."

Both young women bowed and handed their piles of clothing to Aurora and Gabrielle, before curtsying and walking away. Lyanna inclined her head, before walking off after her ladies-in-waiting, leaving Aurora and Gabrielle behind.

They reentered the room and placed the clothes on the bed in the second bedroom. They sorted through them in a quick manner and separated them in two piles, one for them, and one for the twins. After laying out two dresses for themselves, and two for the girls, they went to the bathroom where they finished undressing and stepped into the wooden tub.

The water had cooled off but all it took was for Gabrielle to spread her hands under-water, and it quickly heated to a, for humans, scalding temperature. Enjoying the, for them, pleasantly warm water, Aurora and Gabrielle soon dozed off, with Gabrielle laying on top of Aurora.

Roughly half-an-hour later, Gabrielle was woken up by a small hand tracing the outline of her wings, and looking down at Aurora, she saw that her wife was also awake.

"Hey girls," Aurora said softly, so as not to startle the children.

The small hand was quickly withdrawn from Gabrielle's back and they could hear Silvana whisper, "See, I told you you'd wake them up."

Gabrielle rolled herself off of Aurora and both women sat up in the tub to look at the two girls. Noticing the blood drenched dresses both children were still wearing, Gabrielle said, "Come, join us in the bath, get out of those filthy clothes and let's get you two cleaned up."

The twins did as she said and soon the two were naked as well and they joined their new parents in the bathtub.

Aurora and Gabrielle both took up a piece of rose-scented soap and started to wash the silver blond hair of the girls. After their hair was cleaned the two women each took a clean piece of cloth and started to scrub the two girls. It was clear that it had been a very long time since either of the twins had had a proper bath, as it took quite some scrubbing to get all the grime and dirt removed from the girls' hands and feet.

When Aurora and Gabrielle were finally satisfied that the twins were clean, the girls were pink skinned from all the scrubbing and their hair was shining with a soft silver hue, as was that of Gabrielle.

When they were done, the two adults stood up and stepped out of the water before picking up the girls and lifting them out of the tub. They each took a towel and gently rubbed the girls dry before looking down at them with identical grins and Gabrielle said, "You two want to see something cool."

Both girls nodded a little tiredly, and in an identical move, Aurora and Gabrielle took a deep breath before letting it out through their nose. All the water that still clung to their bodies was instantly vaporized and small clouds of steam rose from their bodies.

"Wow," the girls said in unison, looking slack-jawed at their new parents.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle grinned at their girls' expressions and Aurora said, "We can do much more than that, but we need more space and privacy for that so we'll show you some other time."

The girls nodded enthusiastically and followed the adults to the bedroom where they saw the dresses that were laid out for them. Both girls gasped as they saw the dresses. Both were of a light grey color and were decorated with small pearls around the neck and at the end of the half-sleeves.

The dresses of Aurora and Gabrielle were of a much simpler design, both were black, with a red corset, full length sleeves and low cut necklines. Once they were all dressed, the girls had never felt more beautiful than they did now, Aurora and Gabrielle helped their new daughters with their hair. Putting it in a simple, yet elegant braid.

Exactly one hour after Lyanna had come to their door, they left their rooms and went to the dining room in the royal quarters.

When they arrived they found the others already present. The Queen was seated on one end of the table, while Rhaegar sat on a long end, with Lyanna and Rhaenys on either side of him. Judging by the layout of the table, they were meant to take the seats on the opposite end of where Rhaegar and his family were seated.

Once everyone had taken a seat, the girls in the middle and Aurora and Gabrielle on either side of them, the food was brought in and they enjoyed a simple dinner with good company and pleasant conversations.

At that moment, life was good.


	6. Chapter 6

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 6

The following month went by in a blur for most of the inhabitants of King's Landing. As soon as the Lannister fleet had arrived at the docks, the lords and many of the knights were arrested and put in irons, before being led to the black cells where they would await their trials. The exception to this was Elys Westerling, Lord of The Crag.

Gabrielle was true to her word and when the Stark soldiers wanted to put him and his men in irons, she intervened and told them to remove them again. Lord Elys was put in charge of all the Lannister levies and they were given the task of digging mass graves outside the city, before they were put to work on tearing down what remained of Flea Bottom, to make room for the decent houses that would be build there.

The bodies of the four Targaryans who had been murdered during the sack were entrusted to the Silent Sisters to be prepared for their burial which would take place once Elia's brothers, Doran and Oberyn, had been brought to King's Landing. It was decided that Rhaella, Aurora, Gabrielle and the twins would make a detour at Sunspear to inform the Prince of Dorne and his brother of the death of their sister, and to take them to King's Landing if they were willing.

And so it was that three days after the sack, on the afternoon after the Lannisters had been put to work, Aurora, Gabrielle the Queen and the twins, made ready to travel to Dragonstone and search for the secret chamber Rhaella had told them about.

Under escort, they made their way towards the large Dragonpit on Rhaenys's hill and once inside, they took their leave of their escorts before heading towards the large central room in which Aurora had landed the day before.

Once inside the room, Aurora gave a big grin towards the Queen and the twins before saying, "Are you three ready to see a _real_ dragon."

Said three nodded quickly and stepping forward a good three dozen paces, Aurora chanced.

Gabrielle could barely keep her amusement contained and she almost burst out laughing loudly at seeing the flabbergasted expressions of the Queen and the twins.

She lost it however at what the twins did next. They both looked sideways in each other's eyes and slowly there appeared a very big grin on both their faces. Next they started cheering and ran at the giant dragon head that hung before them. Jumping up and down they reached the horns on top of her head and when Aurora lifted her head a little, they went up as well, still cheering loudly.

Meanwhile the Queen had recovered a little and turning to Gabrielle she asked, "How… how…"

With a grin Gabrielle replied, "How this is possible? Aurora and I are the Last of the _real_ Dragons that inhabited most of the world during, and before the Age of Heroes. The Old Gods have given us the ability to change into a human form when the last of our kind died out, a few thousand years ago."

Seeing the question on the Queen's face, Gabrielle explained. "I said we are the last of the _real_ dragons. The beasts that were ridden by the dragon riders of Valyria were crossbreeds between dragons and wyverns. Real dragons are far too aggressive, and too powerful to be tamed, so they crossed them by placing unfertilized dragon eggs in a wyvern nest. The result of that was a creature that looked like a dragon, though smaller and with only two legs, and which was more docile and less powerful than a real dragon."

The Queen nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Then how old are you?"

Gabrielle smiled a little apologetic and replied, "We're not entirely sure. We have been married for more than 5000 years and been sentient for a few years more. But we can remember little to nothing from our lives before we became like this."

The Queen nodded again and let out a deep sigh before she said, "I have to admit, this is far more than I would ever have expected. I thought my family was well versed in dragon lore, but it turns out most of what we thought we knew, isn't true."

With a gentle smile Gabrielle said, "Don't take it too hard. Many amongst the dragonlords removed that little fact from their history and it was not known to anyone besides the first generation of dragonlords."

At that moment their conversation was broken by a loud shriek of fear, followed immediately by a bout of laughter. The twins were still hanging on Aurora's horns and she was swinging them around, a few feet above the ground.

Gabrielle turned to the girls and said, "Girls, if you get down, you can help me put the saddle on her."

Both Silvana and Lissena immediately released their grips and dropped the remaining 2 feet to the ground. They ran over to where Gabrielle and Rhaella were still standing and when they had come to a halt, Gabrielle removed the magical bag from her belt and folded it out on the ground.

The three others again looked wide-eyed and Gabrielle grinned, "Yea I know, it's pretty amazing isn't it. Magic can be used for many wondrous things."

She pulled the large saddle from the depths of the bag, along with three thick fur cloaks. The helmets wouldn't be necessary as they wouldn't be flying that high. With the help of the girls, who were very enthusiastic but got in the way more often than not, Gabrielle put the saddle on Aurora and secured it with the long lines that were attached to it.

Once it was fitted to Gabrielle's satisfaction, Aurora lowered herself to the ground as low as possible, which still put the saddle roughly 18 feet above them, and Gabrielle climbed on first. Using both the rope and Aurora's scaly neck to reach the saddle, she then made a loop at the end of the rope, which she lowered and then used to pull the girls up to the saddle. Rhaella made her way up on her own, and once they were all strapped in securely, Aurora stood up and stretched out her wings.

Seeing as the central chamber of the Dragonpit was too small for her massive bulk to comfortably fly up, she climbed up using the walls as support until she stood on the top of the great dome. Far below them the city came to a halt as everyone gazed up at the awe-inspiring sight of a fully-grown dragon ready to take flight.

Aurora stretched out her massive wings and with a few powerful flaps, she jumped into the air and flew westwards over the city. They could faintly hear cheering and applause coming from the city below them and Gabrielle couldn't suppress the small grin that crept onto her face. It had been a _very long_ time since they had been this popular.

The twins absolutely loved to fly, they cheered loudly when Aurora did a few carefully executed maneuvers, nothing to fancy considering the Queen's pregnancy, but even Rhaella enjoyed it greatly. They flew at a leisurely pace and since it was a clear day, they could see for many miles around them and Rhaella pointed out several castles and towns to the girls, while telling them a few things about them.

When they arrived at Dragonstone it was a few hours past noon and unlike last time, no one was shooting at them so Aurora carefully landed outside the view of the castle and they all dismounted before she changed back into human form.

As a group they leisurely walked towards the great fortress and entered through the large gates, where they were awaited by the castellan. "Welcome Your Grace, we had not expected you back here so soon. How may I be of service to you and your guests?"

Rhaella inclined her head and replied, "It was not expected that I would return this soon, but we won't be here for that long anyway. If you would please gather two score guardsmen, fully armored and armed, and have them stand ready in the courtyard in two hours, I would be grateful."

The castellan bowed and said, "Of course, Your Grace," before turning around and heading to the barracks.

Gabrielle looked expectantly at Rhaella and the Queen thought for a moment before she said, "Okay let's go to the library first, I need to find a book."

She led them into the keep and up several flights of stairs before they stopped at the door to the library. Entering the dimly lit room they found the Maester hunched over a table with his nose buried in an extremely thick book.

The man looked up when he noticed he had visitors and quickly stood up when he saw the Queen. "Your Grace, how may I help you?"

Rhaella nodded slightly and replied, "Would you please bring me, _The History of the Citadel, volume III_."

The man quickly bowed and hurried out of the library. With a single raised eyebrow, Gabrielle asked, "What do you need that book for?"

"To get rid of him." Rhaella deadpanned. "I don't know what it is, but there is something I don't like about him, so I don't want him to know about this." She next walked to one of the shelves against the wall and reached into it. Apparently she hit a hidden button or lever, as the bottom of the shelf fell open, and when Gabrielle knelt down, she pulled three, thick, leather-bound books from the hidden compartment.

There wasn't a title on the books, but Rhaella quickly motioned for Gabrielle to put the books away and to place the bottom panel back in its place.

Gabrielle handed two of the books to Aurora, who hid them under her cloak, while she herself stood up and put the last one under her belt on her back. She had just put her cloak right again, when the door opened and the maester entered the room carrying a thick book, bound in black leather with golden lettering on the front.

With a small bow, the maester handed the book to Rhaella before saying, "Is there anything else I can do for you, Your Grace?"

Rhaella shook her head before saying, "No, that will be all. We shall leave you to your work maester."

The man bowed again before sitting himself back at the table and resuming his reading of the thick tome they had seen him engrossed in when they arrived. Rhaella led the others out of the library and down the stairs until they reached a large balcony on the side of the tower. She had dumped the requested book in an alcove behind a banner.

Stepping into the sunlight, Rhaella turned to the kids and said, "Would you two like to help me out a little?"

Both Silvana and Lissena nodded enthusiastically and Rhaella smiled before continuing, "Very good. I need you two to go stand on the stairs, and warn me if anyone is coming, can you do that?"

"Yes, Your Grace," the twins said as one, before they hurried back into the tower, with Silvana going up, and Lissena going down.

Turning to the other two, Rhaella said, "Now, if you would get out the books, we can begin. Those books are the personal diaries of Aegon the Conqueror himself. I found them when my father had me clean the entire library because I had skipped my lessons with the septa and went sailing instead."

Grinning at her words, Aurora and Gabrielle removed the books from beneath their cloaks and Aurora handed one to the Queen. "I'm afraid I don't remember where I have read about the secret room, so I'm afraid we'll just have to read through them until we find it."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded once, before they sat themselves in two of the chairs that stood on the balcony. Rhaella sat herself down in a third, before opening her book and starting to read.

It took a little over an hour until Gabrielle said, "AHA, found it."

The other two quickly came over to her and looked over her shoulder at the section she had indicated.

… _The time has come, tomorrow morning we will set sail to begin our conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. Visenya and Rhaenys have already gone to bed, but I believe that sleep will not come to me on this night._

 _Outside I can see our dragons flying around the island, it would seem that they share in my anticipation. Even from this distance I can feel Balerion's anxiousness growing, just like mine, I expect he wishes the time had already come for us to fight our first battle, this waiting is worse than anything I have ever felt._

 _To my children, should we ever be granted any, if you are reading this, and your need is dire,_ _then_ _know that not all has yet been lost. In the lowest dungeon of the Stone Drum, find the door without a keyhole and light the Dragon's Torch, with Dragonfire. In order to open the door to the treasure I have hidden there, you will need_ The Dragon's Claw _for it alone will open the door._

"That's it," Rhaella exclaimed as she finished reading. "We need to get to the dungeons." But before she left the balcony, her face fell and turning around she asked a little hesitantly, "Are you able to create dragonfire in your human form?"

The only reply she got was both Aurora and Gabrielle raising their hands holding small, yet bright, balls of flame in their opened palms.

"Never mind," Rhaella muttered before she continued to enter the tower. Silvana came down as she heard them coming and so did Lissena. When she saw the girls Rhaella smiled and said, "You did very good girls." Both were glowing with pride at her words. "Now we have found what we were looking for, so let's get going shall we?"

The twins quickly nodded and they each gave a hand to Aurora, who in turn handed her book to Gabriele, and they followed the queen down the stairs.

When they reached the bottom of the tower, they passed the courtyard. They found the guards Rhaella had requested of the castellan and Rhaella motioned for the captain of the guards to follow them.

They entered the central keep, where they quickly located the stairs that went to the dungeons, and headed downwards.

When they entered the dungeons, Rhaella quickly led them to a blank wall that had a, seemingly decorative, arch on it and said to the two women behind her, "This is it. This is the spot he spoke about. The door without a keyhole. Now all we have to do is find the Dragon's Torch."

One of the guards handed her his torch, which she held above her before studying the blank wall. After a few minutes of not finding anything, Aurora said, "If I may, I have a hunch that I would like to try." When Rhaella nodded her consent, Aurora added, "All of you, please take a few dozen paces back, look away and close your eyes. This will be very hot and very bright and may very well blind you forever if you look at it."

Everyone did as she said and when only she and Gabrielle were still facing the wall with their eyes open, Aurora raised her hands to her mouth and held them like a bowl in front of her mouth.

A bright red flame appeared above her hands and taking a deep breath, Aurora blew at the flame, turning it into an inferno that sprayed all over the wall. The immense heat of the dragonfire cracked the stones and soon they literally melted away, revealing a large ornate door.

The door was made of a dark-grey steel with a ripple pattern in it and it was glowing softly in the aftermath of the intense heat it had endured.

When the heat was mostly gone, Gabrielle yelled for the others to rejoin them and soon Rhaella and the twins were standing next to them again. Rhaella studied the door and gasped when she realized what it was. "That is Valyrian Steel. This door alone must be worth more than all the gold in Casterly Rock. There is no way we can get through this without the key. But where is the keyhole?"

Aurora cleared her throat and pointed at a slight indentation, it was roughly at shoulder height and had the shape of a hand-and-a-half sword.

Rhaella cursed softly under her breath while taking the rough measurements of the sword that would fit there. "Seven Hells." She finally exclaimed before muttering. "I should have known."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle looked at the frustrated queen with a raised eyebrow until Gabrielle asked softly, "If you tell us what is wrong, maybe we can help you find a solution."

Rhaella seemed to realize that she wasn't alone and quickly turned around to face her companions. The guards that had followed them were admiring the door and muttering softly amongst each other.

"My apologies. I was so enthralled by this door that for a moment I forgot that I was not alone. But to get to the point, it would appear that the 'key' Aegon wrote about, is in fact a sword. Blackfyre to be precise. Problem is, Blackfyre was lost, 23 years ago, after Ser Barristan slew its last known wielder, Maelys the Monstrous."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle seemed to think for a moment until Gabrielle asked, "How is Valyrian Steel made?"

Rhaella laughed humorlessly at that and said, "If we knew that, we would have an endless supply of it but alas, its secret was lost with the Doom of Valyria. The only thing that we do know is that it involved magic and dragonfire."

At those words, both Aurora and Gabrielle shared a knowing grin and Aurora said, "What would you say if I said that we have access to both those, and we can maybe, _maybe_ melt a hole in that door."

Both the Queen and the two score guards stared wide-eyed at Gabrielle until Rhaella asked softly, "You think you can actually melt Valyrian Steel?"

Gabrielle nodded and replied, "Our own armor and weapons are made of Dragonforged Steel, which is made by melting steel and some other metals, into one and heating them with Dragonfire and magic. I dare to bet that our battle axes can actually break a, so-called, unbreakable Valyrian Steel sword."

As if to prove a point, Aurora drew the massive axe from the holder on her back and with her enormous strength, she slammed the blade of the axe against the door. A loud ringing sound echoed through the entire fortress but when they looked to where the axe had hit the Valyrian Steel door, they were all aghast. The axe was stuck in the door and the blade had sunk in a good two inches deep.

Silvana's soft whisper of "Wow," was all that was heard in the deafening silence that followed the noise of axe meeting door. The twins were staring with adoration at Aurora until Lissena cried out, "Do it again, do it again."

Aurora and Gabrielle both burst out laughing at the girls' enthusiasm and to please her new daughters, Aurora wrenched the axe free from the door before slamming it in again. She hit the exact same spot and this time it sunk even deeper into the steel.

Both Silvana and Lissena were cheering loudly until Gabrielle asked to Rhaella, "But what of it? Do you want to wait until we _might_ find Blackfyre, or do you want us to try and open this door, probably destroying it in the process?"

The queen thought about it for a minute until she said, "Do what you have to, but try to open this door."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle inclined their heads and Gabrielle said, "Then we shall do our best, but be advised it may become very, very hot in here, so it would be best for all of you who are not fire-proof to leave this area."

Rhaella agreed with this and turned to the captain of the guards, "Captain, please take your men back to the courtyard, I will call for you when it is safe again. Myself and the girls will stay, as it has been proven that all three of us share the same resistance to fire as the Ladies have."

The captain bowed once, before turning around and leading his men out of the dungeons.

When they were sure that they were alone, Rhaella turned to Gabrielle and asked, "What are you planning to do, I don't think you can change in here, it is far too small to fit your other forms."

"We don't have to," was Gabrielle's reply, "if we join our flames, they will burn just as hot as if we did it in dragon form." They put her words into action and placed their right hands onto the surface of the door. Aurora put hers over Gabrielle's after entwining their fingers and they both took a deep breath.

As they released their breath, a bright light engulfed their joined hands as red and blue fire joined together to form a bright purple flame. The heat became almost unbearable, even to the fire-resistant Valyrian blood. But it did work.

A small hole, about an inch wide and three inches high, was burned straight through the door. Over the next ten minutes Aurora and Gabrielle repeated the process of breathing in and breathing out to create the purple flames that could melt through Valyrian Steel.

The rectangle they cut into the door was two feet wide and four feet high. Once they burned through the final part, the cut out piece dropped on the remaining part and Aurora quickly gave it a kick, so it fell inwards, instead of on them.

Looking back at the Queen, Aurora asked, "Do you want to call the guards, or shall we continue without them. Keep in mind that there could be treasures hidden within that could drive men mad with desire if they would lay their eyes upon them."

Rhaella nodded thoughtfully before she said, "We shall see what lies within, before we call the guards."

Aurora nodded in acceptance and taking a torch from the wall, she extinguished it on the floor, before relighting it with red dragonfire, while Gabrielle did the same with a second torch. To the surprise of Rhaella and the twins, the newly lit torches burned much brighter and illuminated a far greater area than they had done before.

They saw that behind the door there was a dark tunnel of smooth volcanic stone. The tunnel was round and the tips of the spiked crowns of Aurora and Gabrielle were only two inches below the ceiling.

Aurora grabbed a sword in her right hand and carefully tapped the step in front of her, to search for any traps that might have been left behind. In this manner they slowly descended the many steps and to their relief, they didn't encounter any traps. A few of the steps had been broken by the eruptions of the Dragonmont, but otherwise the stairs were completely intact.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they had made it deep into the volcanic stone and the heat had slowly been building up in the air around them. When they passed the last bend, a natural light could be seen ahead of them and Aurora and Gabrielle motioned for the other three to wait for them to check it out.

They slowly went around the corner and gasped in surprise, they saw a thing that they had never believed to be possible.

They stood on large balcony on a giant cliff of volcanic stone. 3000 feet below them, they could see a lake of molten magma, they were literally standing at the edge of an active volcano. When they turned to look around they saw a massive treasure trove surrounding them.

Gabrielle slowly walked back to the stairs and said loudly, "It is safe, and you have got to see this."

The other three quickly descended the remaining stairs and just like them, they gasped in amazement and wonder.

The balcony they were standing on was roughly 100 feet in any direction and the ledge was a true treasure trove. All around them were large chests, overflowing with gold coins. Large golden and silver bowls were filled with all kinds of precious stones. Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Diamonds and gemstones of every other kind were piled high on tables.

There was a wall covered in hooks, from which were hung crowns, necklaces, tiara's and all kinds of other jewelry.

Against another wall stood half a dozen mannequins, each mannequin was fully equipped with dark grey, heavy armor with a rippling pattern and steel encased wooden shields. It looked remarkably like the armor worn by Aurora and Gabrielle, only theirs was black instead of dark grey, and theirs was covered in spikes, whereas the armor on the mannequins had a more streamlined design.

But the greatest treasure, was carefully arranged in a nest made of Valyrian Steel, which stood on the very edge of the ledge. There, in the nest, lay 7, large, eggs. 1 was black, 1 was red, 1 was blue, 1 was green, 1 was white, 1 was gold, and the last was a deep purple.

Rhaella and the twins were staring in awe and wonder at everything around them, until they saw the eggs. It was as if they were drawn to them and step-by-step they inched closer to the nest until they were standing right in front of it.

As if in a trance, they all reached into the nest and removed a single egg each. Rhaella chose the green one, Silvana chose the purple one and Lissena took the blue egg.

Once they had each picked an egg, they stepped back from the edge and it was as if the trance was suddenly lifted and they seemed to regain their senses. Rhaella shook her head and stared in awe at the egg in her hands. The twins did the same but they looked slightly guiltily at Aurora and said as one, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

But Aurora raised her hand to interrupt her and said, "Don't apologize, this is fate, or destiny however you want to call it. You were clearly meant to have these eggs and if my guess is correct, then those other four are for Rhaegar, Rhaenys and the two little dragons that are on the way.

"Are, are you saying that _we_ should hatch them?" asked Rhaella a little disbelieving.

Aurora nodded her head and replied, "Yes, I believe that these eggs were put here for a reason, and whatever reason that may be, it is obvious that you three were meant to have these."

Gabrielle nodded in agreement and added, "May I feel the eggs."

Rhaella immediately stepped towards her and carefully handed her egg to Gabrielle. She took the egg with care and held it in the bowl of her hands, before pressing it to her lips and breathing on it through her nose.

They could all hear a soft noise, similar to that of the wind blowing through the trees, and a soft glow seemed to envelop the egg. She handed the egg back to Rhaella without saying a word, before repeating the process with the eggs chosen by Silvana and Lissena.

After handing Lissena the blue egg back, Gabrielle looked up and said, "For the next 15 days, it will be your job to ensure that the eggs do not cool off. Keep them warm at all times, or the hatchlings will go back to hibernation and we have to start all over again. The best way to do this is by placing them in an open fire, both in the morning and in the evening, for at least half an hour."

All three nodded slowly, still staring in wonder at the now warm eggs in their hands. "So, does this mean that we will become dragon riders?" Lissena asked softly.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded and Aurora said, "It sure does sweetheart, and if you are going to become dragon riders, then you will need to be equipped as such." She gestured towards the wall with the mannequins before it and led them towards it.

When they stood before the wall, the twins noticed something that they had missed when they first saw the armor suits. Behind the mannequins, the wall was adorned with weapons. They ranged from small daggers to great swords and even a battle axe and large war hammer could be found, all made of Valyrian steel.

Rhaella's eyes were drawn towards a greatsword with a handle and scabbard of red leather, and with a large, golden lion-head as pommel. The cross guards were also shaped like lions-heads, with clear rubies set as eyes.

Seeing her look, Gabrielle carefully took the egg from Rhaella, so that the Queen could walk to the wall and remove the sword. Once she had, she drew it out of the scabbard and started grinning loudly. On the blade of the sword were engraved three words, _'Hear me Roar'_.

"O Tywin is going to lose it when he sees this. His family has been searching for this blade since at least a century before the War of Conquest." When she noticed the unrecognizing looks of Aurora and Gabrielle, she added, "This sword is called _Brightroar_ , and it is the ancestral blade of House Lannister."

Now both the other women were grinning as well and Aurora said, "Oh, now I really wish Rhaegar hadn't promised Tywin that he would let him and his children live, I would love to beat his son in a trial by combat, while using that sword."

With a glint of amusement, Rhaella said, "Well if I know Tywin, he will do whatever it takes, to regain his lost power. So perhaps one day you will get the chance to do just that." She placed the sword back on the wall, before Gabrielle handed her back the egg.

With a toothy grin, Aurora turned back to the wall and said to the twins, "And girls, have you found anything that catches your fancy?"

The twins both nodded and said, "Yes mom." When she heard them call her, 'mom', for the first time, Aurora couldn't contain a single tear from dropping from her eyes. That little word meant the world to her.

Looking back at the twins, Aurora saw that they each pointed at their weapon of choice. Silvana pointed at the war hammer and Lissena indicated a pair of short swords, which Aurora identified as two falchions.

The war hammer was roughly 5 feet long with a spike covered square on one side, and an axe blade on the other, it would be a truly fearsome weapon in the hands of someone who knew how to properly use it.

The falchions each had a blade of 3 feet long and 4-inch-wide and 1/3rd of an inch thick on the unsharpened side. Both were stuck in sheaths of dark grey leather and attached to a thick black leather belt.

Removing the chosen weapons from the wall, Aurora inspected them closely before observing, "Hmm, we'll have to rework these a bit. The war hammer is not properly balanced for the hands of a woman, and the falchions don't have a proper cross guard. But that's a problem for later. First we'll have to teach you two how to use these."

The girls were glowing with anticipation until Gabrielle turned to Rhaella and asked, "You don't mind if we take these, do you?"

Rhaella softly shook her head and said, "No, after everything you two have done for my family, it is no less than you deserve. Also, I strongly suggest you also choose two of those suits of armor, if you can rework those weapons, I expect it won't be too hard for you to rework them to fit the body of women, instead of men."

Gabrielle inclined her head in agreement and said, "You are correct, that would indeed be fairly easy, but we'll wait with that until they are fully grown."

Seeing as the armors were all of the same design, Gabrielle just picked two and stored them in her fold-out pouch, along with the war hammer and the falchions. Turning around they gave the treasure trove a final look-over and Gabrielle spotter a closed chest, underneath a pile of gold bars.

Walking over to the chest, she removed the gold bars and pilled them next to the chest, before opening the lid. It revealed many scrolls of parchment. Picking one, Gabrielle grinned softly to herself and said to no one in particular, "Anyone interested in an accurate map of the Valyrian peninsula, from _after_ the Doom."

Rhaella quickly snatched it out of Gabrielle's hands and unrolled it before her eyes. She studied it minutely and said, "If we can find the legendary Forges of Valyria, we may have a way to recreate Valyrian Steel. With your knowledge, and those forges, we can outfit the finest army in the world."

This caught the attention of Aurora and Gabrielle and Aurora asked with a hungry look in her eyes, "Let's say that, if someone was to be looking for the finest soldiers in the world, where would you send them?"

Rhaella thought about that for a few minutes until she sighed and said reluctantly. "To our enemies. If you're willing to deal with sellswords, you'd have to look for the Golden Company. They have by far the best reputation and they are the most powerful of the sellsword companies. They are 10,000 strong, but in the past they have often fought for our enemies, the Blackfyre Pretenders.

If it is discipline and absolute loyalty you want, then you need the Unsullied, slave soldiers from the city of Astapor. They are trained from boyhood and they know no other life than combat. Their training is unspeakably cruel, but it is very effective. During the legendary, Battle of Qohor, 3,000 unsullied stopped a khalasar of over 50,000 riders, and killed more than 12,000 of them, while losing 2,400 themselves. The Unsullied are used all over Essos as city guards and as household guards by the richest families."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle looked intrigued by the Queen's words and Aurora muttered half to herself and half to the others, "Well then, it seems that we're going to make a trip to Essos when all this has been dealt with."

Gabrielle nodded in agreement and Rhaella said cautiously, "I'm not so sure whether it is wise if you two were to leave, so soon after Rhaegar is installed as king. You may be needed to ensure stability during the rebuilding of the city."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle shook their heads at that and Gabrielle said, "No Rhaella, it is important that we are _not_ present to ensure stability. If we are flying around everywhere, the nobles could accuse him that the only reason the realm is stable, is that we are there to install fear in everyone who might disagree with his decisions. Rhaegar needs to prove himself as an effective ruler, without our help, if he is ever to be given the respect and loyalty he deserves."

Aurora nodded in agreement and added, "We shall leave you with a way to contact us, should it be necessary, and if the maps I took from Rhaegar's mind are accurate, we could be back here within a day or two."

When the words left her mouth, Aurora realized she said something wrong, as Rhaella suddenly looked up and said with suspicion clearly noticeable in her voice, "What do you mean, 'the maps you took from Rhaegar's mind? What exactly are you doing here. Because I know you are not what you say you are. You may have fooled the smallfolk and the nobles, but you didn't fool me."

Aurora and Gabrielle both went red at her words and Gabrielle finally said with a sigh, "You're right. We did not come from the ruins of Valyria. To be honest we have only been in this world since the night before the dual at the Trident. Aurora and I are something you could call demigods. We are send by the Old Gods, the _real_ gods of this world, to help Rhaegar in preparing this world to face the forces of Death and Darkness when the Long Night returns.

We have done this on more worlds before. About 5000 years ago, in our life, we were born on a world called Earth. There we were trained, and changed into what we are now. When our lives there came at an end, the gods of many other worlds made us an offer. We would be granted a form of immortality and great powers, if in turn, we would take up the job as the Gods champions.

Whenever things go wrong in a world, the gods of that world can call on us and send us to intervene on their behalf and to help the people of that world to make things right again. In every world we are forced to come up with some false back story to make our presence believable to the common people. In this world, only Rhaegar, Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor know part of the truth, since they witnessed our arrival, and only Rhaegar knows all of the truth. I hope you can understand the need for secrecy, and if you don't believe me, I can show you that what I have said is the truth."

Rhaella looked very skeptical but once Gabrielle grasped her right hand and showed her a few of the memories that proved her story, Rhaella relented. "I… I understand. I don't like it, but I understand why you are here and what you are trying to do. I just wish you wouldn't have had to come."

Aurora and Gabrielle both nodded sadly until their solemn mood was broken by an amazed voice belonging to Silvana, "Wow, so our new parents are _gods_ , that is so cool."

They couldn't help it, all three women burst out laughing at the amazement of the two girls whom they had nearly forgotten were with them.


	7. Chapter 7

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 7

 _Aurora and Gabrielle both nodded sadly until their solemn mood was broken by an amazed voice belonging to Silvana, "Wow, so our new parents are gods, that is so cool."_

 _They couldn't help it, all three women burst out laughing at the amazement of the two girls whom they had nearly forgotten were with them._

When they had finished laughing, Aurora turned serious and kneeling down on one knee she looked both girls in the eyes and said, "Now listen very carefully. It is of the utmost importance, that no one else knows this okay, I want both of you to swear an oath, to never mention it to anyone, unless you have the express permission of either me, or Gabrielle. Do you understand?"

Both girls nodded with a equally serious face and Silvana said softly, "Yes mom." Aurora again got a fond smile on her face when she heard the girl calling her, 'mom'.

"Well then," sighed Rhaella, "I believe that we should leave here. Although I do not know how we are going to keep everyone away from here, now that the door is broken."

Gabrielle just shrugged and replied, "We could just take everything with us. I have a spare pouch which you could borrow if you'd like. Until you have found a more permanent place for everything."

Rhaella nodded relieved at this and once Gabrielle had spread her second pouch, which was empty, out on the ground, they carefully put everything into it. They locked the chests with gold, put the gems in large bags, and gathered all the jewelry and wrapped it carefully in the silk robes they had found in a locked chest. All the weapons and the remaining four sets of armor were also carefully put away until all that remained were the four eggs that still lay in the Valyrian steel nest.

While they stood before the nest and pondered what to do with them, they suddenly heard a sound coming from the stairs. With their enthusiasm and amazement at everything they had found, they had completely forgotten about the forty guardsmen that had been waiting for them.

They had been in the treasure trove for more than an hour, and the captain had become worried, so he had sent four of his men to investigate. One of the men had fallen on a broken step, and that was the sound they heard coming from the stairs.

Gabrielle quickly folded the pouch that lay on the ground and hung it on her belt, while Aurora took a similar one from her own belt and quickly, though carefully, picked up the entire nest, eggs and all, and put it in the pouch.

She had just folded it again and was standing up, when the four guards arrived on the ledge. The four men stared wide-eyed at their surroundings until Rhaella cleared her throat and the men quickly sprung to attention.

"I do believe I had told you to stay in the courtyard until I sent for you, or do I remember incorrectly?" Rhaella's words were icy and the men fidgeted with their halberds, just to not have to look her in the eyes.

"N… n… no Your Grace," One of the men finally said, "but the captain grew concerned when we didn't hear anything from you, it has been over an hour, so he sent us to investigate. And when we saw the hole in the door, we decided to go and look for you, in case you had fallen or something and were unable to return."

Rhaella softly shook her head and muttered, "Unbelievable, I'm in the company of two dragon riders, and they are worried that I might fall." Looking up at the men she added, "Just get the hell out of here and forget that you were ever here." The men quickly bowed before running back up the stairs.

Rhaella turned back to the others and sighed, "Luckily we had everything cleared out before they came in."

The others nodded, and Gabrielle asked, "Shall we go back upstairs then? We still have to get to Dorne today, and it is at least a couple of hours flying."

The Queen nodded and taking a last look around, to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, made their way back up the stairs. During the trip up, Gabrielle handed Rhaella and the twins each a fur, which she removed from the partially opened foldable pouch, and told them to wrap their eggs into it, both to keep them warm, and to keep them away from prying eyes. The wrapped eggs were then carefully held under their cloaks, so they weren't in sight of anyone.

When they came upon the massive Valyrian steel door, Aurora asked, "Do you want us to put the piece back in the door, or should we leave it like this. We could also just remove it entirely and take the steel with us. I heard there is a blacksmith in King's Landing who knows how to rework Valyrian steel. Gabrielle and I don't have the time at the moment and the sooner we get him working on it, the sooner he can make something useful out of it."

Rhaella looked a little confused as to what Aurora meant, until said woman continued. "We have about 250 cubic feet of Valyrian Steel just hanging there being useless. Do you have any idea how many swords or suits of armor you can make from that?"

It finally downed to Rhaella what Aurora was talking about and she replied, "If you can remove it that would be great, but I think we should return later to do that. We really need to get to Sunspear before the end the afternoon, or else I fear the ravens will beat us there. I promised Rhaegar that I would personally inform Doran and Oberyn of Elia's death, and I intend to keep that promise. Is it easy to set the piece back in the door or would it take more than half an hour?"

Aurora went back into the hole and lifted the massive piece of steel. Even with her nearly god-like strength, it took her considerable effort to even lift it. Gabrielle quickly went through as well and together they managed to push the piece through the hole and to the other side.

After they rejoined the others on the other side, they again lifted it together and carefully slid it back into the hole. It rested on the bottom, so there was a trench of about two inches wide on the top and one-inch-wide on both sides.

They once again joined their hands and melted the edges of the trench, before taking one of their knives and using it to join the red hot metal together, so it cooled off as one solid piece. When the door was whole and closed again, they left the dungeons and made their way back to the courtyard.

When they reappeared in the light of the midday sun, they were met by the captain of the guard, the castellan and the maester. All three were obviously burning with anticipation to hear what they had found, as the news of the Valyrian steel door had quickly made its way through the fortress.

Stopping any questions from being asked, Rhaella spoke up on a firm tone. "I want ten guards stationed at that door at all times. _No one_ gets near it, except the ladies Aurora and Gabrielle here. Anyone else who is found near it, will be fed to one of the dragons. Is that understood?"

Everyone quickly indicated their understanding and Rhaella continued. "Very good. Then I wish you all a good day, as we have other places to go." She walked into the direction of the gates and the other four followed her, with Aurora and Gabrielle as last, after throwing a warning look at the maester, while swinging their axes loosely in their hands.

When they arrived back at the place where they had landed, Aurora once again changed to her dragon form and with the help of the twins, Gabrielle put the saddle on her shoulders. Once they were all securely strapped in, she stretched her wings and jumped into the sky before flying of southwards.

It took them four hours until they could see Sunspear in the distance. The distinctive shape of the Sandship, the ancient citadel of the Martells, was clearly visible from the altitude on which they were flying.

To avoid a repeat of the first reaction of Dragonstone, Gabrielle told Aurora to fly low and clearly in sight, while landing roughly a mile before the gates of Sunspear.

When Aurora had settled herself next to the road, Gabrielle, Rhaella and the twins used the rope to descend from the saddle and awaited the arrival of an envoy from the city. They knew it was coming because they had seen the gates open and a detachment of riders were making their way towards them.

At the head of the group of 25 riders, was a young man of not 30 name-days old. He could be considered as quite handsome, it was obvious from his posture that he thought himself to be so, and he was riding a beautiful black stallion with a tail and mane the color of fire.

He stopped his horse abruptly when Gabrielle went to stand before Rhaella and the twins and prepared her axe to strike. "That's close enough pretty-boy, I can hear you from where you stand, come closer on your own peril."

The man was obviously surprised by the armored behemoth, but didn't seem that dismissive to accepting the challenge. He was already on the ground and twirling an 8-foot-long spear around his head, when Rhaella stepped from behind Gabrielle's massive armored shoulders.

"Put down that spear Prince Oberyn, you'll only get hurt if you continue this folly." Turning to Gabrielle she said, "Please lower your axe, this is Prince Oberyn Martell, the younger brother of Prince Doran, the ruler of Dorne."

Gabrielle nodded silently and stabbed her axe into the ground before removing her helmet. The by now familiar gasps when others realized they were dealing with a woman were heard, and the now named Prince Oberyn got a look that screamed, 'I want you in my bed'.

Prince Oberyn made to kiss Gabrielle's armored hand but before he moved more than three inches, he found the very sharp top-spike of Gabrielle's battle axe pressed firmly into his chest. "Any part of your body that you use to touch me, will be removed from your body."

The snarled warning was received by a loud, 'gulp', from Oberyn and some soft sniggering from the other men who had come with him.

"That will be enough of this." Rhaella said curtly. "My lady, remove your axe, Prince Oberyn, take us to your brother right now. We are not here on an idle visit and it would be best if you and Doran heard what I have to say at the same time."

Now Oberyn turned very serious and with a short nod, he ran back to his horse and said, "Wait till I have warned the guards not to shoot you. When you hear three horn blasts, fly towards the courtyard of the Old Palace, Doran and I will await you there."

He and his men swiftly rode back towards the gates and disappeared in the city. It took maybe fifteen minutes until they heard the three horn blasts Oberyn told them to wait for. They retook their place on Aurora and she followed Rhaella's directions to the courtyard of the Old Palace.

It was only two minutes later when Aurora carefully landed in the courtyard before Doran and Oberyn. Doran looked like his brother about as much as you could expect, but his posture and the calm intellect that shone behind his eyes told them that he was a different man altogether. Oberyn might be considered a great warrior, but Doran was the mastermind of the Martells.

As soon as they landed, the courtyard shaking by the weight of Aurora, Gabrielle threw out the rope and slid down it, landing in front of Doran and Oberyn. Her emerald green eyes stared intently into Doran's black ones until her mental power overwhelmed his mind. She made a quick copy of everything of importance, so she could make an accurate guess of his personality and what they could expect from him. Normally she wouldn't have had to resort to such drastic measures, but where Oberyn had been easy to read, Doran was not.

Meanwhile Rhaella and the twins had also descended from the saddle and Rhaella stepped forward past Gabrielle. "Prince Doran," she greeted the ruler of Dorne with a small nod of her head.

"Your Grace," was Doran's reply, while both he and his brother bowed to her. "To what does Dorne owe the Pleasure of your company my Queen?"

Rhaella sighed and said, "Not a pleasure I'm afraid. I bring grave news concerning the Rebellion of Robert Baratheon."

Before she could continue, Doran raised his hand and said, "Apologies Your Grace, but maybe it would be wise to relocate to a more shaded area, the Dornish sun can be unforgiving to those who are not accustomed to it."

Rhaella nodded to indicate her consent and Doran led them towards a corner of the courtyard where a large screen was hung between four pillars to create a shaded area with several seats and a table.

Once they had sat down Aurora lifted her head and dropped it between the chairs of Gabrielle and Silvana. The little girl immediately left her chair and climbed onto her head before setting herself comfortably on her temple with her back resting on a large horn. It wasn't long before her sister joined her and Doran and Oberyn looked amazed at the easy way the two girls acted around the fearsome beast.

Doran's personal guard, a Bearded Priest of Norvos called Areo Hotha, came walking towards them with a guarded look toward Aurora's massive form until he stood before them and bowed to prince Doran. "My Prince, a raven has come from King's Landing."

He held the scroll out to Doran but after a small nod from Rhaella, Gabrielle's hand shot out and she snatched the scroll out of Areo's hand, before Doran could accept it.

Raising her hands to stop any comments, Rhaella said. "My apologies, but I know what is in that scroll. The reason we are here is that I wanted to tell you in person, before a raven could reach you."

Doran dismissed Areo with a motion of his hand, and the Norvoshi left without a word. Turning back to his guests, Doran spoke, "Then please get to the matter at hand Your Grace."

Rhaella nodded sadly before speaking up. "Very well, then I shall.

6 days ago, Robert Baratheon was defeated on the banks of the Trident. The Lords Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully, left the rebel cause and joined Rhaegar, when Princess Lyanna spoke with them about the circumstances surrounding her supposed, 'abduction'."

Doran nodded and replied, "Elia had written us about that. She told us she had urged Rhaegar to find a second wife to give him an heir, and she later wrote that Rhaegar had chosen Lyanna."

Rhaella accepted his words with a small nod, Elia had also written to her about it and said she had written her brothers as well. "Well, once Robert was removed from the picture, Rhaegar hurried back to King's Landing, as his scouts had informed him that Tywin Lannister had broken the Tyrell host, and was marching on the city."

Judging by their looks, both Doran and Oberyn had an inkling of what she was headed to, but they kept their peace and let her continue.

When Rhaegar reached the city, it was already too late. The Mad King had opened the gates for Tywin, and the Lannister army was in the middle of sacking the city. Flea Bottom has been completely destroyed, and the rest of the city had been pillaged. We don't know exactly how many lives were lost, but our estimates are more than a quarter of the population of King's Landing."

Oberyn gasped in shock and Doran said softly, "But that's…"

Rhaella nodded sadly and completed his sentence, "Yes Doran, that's over 125,000 people. But how terrible that is, it is not the reason we are here. That reason is this, during the sack two of Tywin's bannermen, Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch, managed to make their way into the Red Keep, and…"

"What about Elia," Oberyn interrupted her, but the look on Rhaella's face told him everything he needed to know. "No… no… no, this, this cannot be."

Rhaella nodded sadly and said, "I'm so very sorry, but Elia was murdered by Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch, along with Aegon and my son Viserys. The Mad King was stabbed in the back by Jaime Lannister."

Doran was visibly having trouble holding in his tears, but Oberyn was seething in anger and growled out, "Where are the monsters that killed our sister. I demand that they be handed over to us."

Doran tried to put a calming hand on his brother's shoulder, but was interrupted by Rhaella who answered Oberyn's question.

"We do not know where they are. We have captured the entire Lannister army, or at least the part that wasn't killed by them," at this she pointed to Gabrielle and Aurora, "but those two were not amongst them. We have 15,000 men searching the countryside for them, and Rhaegar has put a lordship and 20,000 Gold Dragons on both their heads, so it will only be a matter of time before we find them. And yes Oberyn, when they are found, you can have them."

Oberyn was pleased by her consent that he could cool his anger on the murderers of his sister, but he still had too much anger in his body to think straight. He sprung up from his chair and grabbing his spear, he marched off to parts unknown.

When he was gone, Rhaella threw a questioning look at Doran and said man replied, "He has a harder time dealing with this than me. I prefer to grieve in silence, but he needs to let his anger out and rage for a while."

Gabrielle casually spoke up and said, "Do you think he requires something to hit? I has been a while since I had a proper spar with someone other than my wife."

Doran slightly raised his eyebrows and asked, "Wife?"

Gabrielle nodded and replied, "Yea, I know it isn't done in Westeros, but we honestly don't give a shit, as we come from Essos. We have lived in the ruins of Valyria for a very long time."

Doran nodded understandingly before adding, "And to answer your question, yes I do believe he would appreciate it. Just be careful, in his anger he might lash out more than he intends."

Gabrielle just gave him a toothy grin and Rhaella said, "Please don't harm him too much, we still need him to be able to ride if we want to reach the capital before nightfall" Gabrielle gave her a non-committal shrug before she walked in the direction in which Oberyn had left.

Softly shaking her head, Rhaella turned back to Doran and said, "We will be leaving again in an hour, if you want, you, Oberyn and one or two others can fly with us. It would save you a long journey by land or sea."

Doran nodded thoughtfully and said, "I think we will, thank you for the offer Your Grace. If you would excuse me, I will make preparations for our departure in an hour." Doran stood up, made a small bow, and walked away.

Turning to Aurora and the twins, who she saw had fallen asleep, she said softly, "Will you be fine here, I think I'll go and see what Oberyn and your wife are up to."

Aurora blinked one time with her visible eye, which Rhaella took as confirmation, before closing her eye again and dozing off in the comfortably scorching sun.

Rhaella stood up and walked in the same direction as Oberyn and Gabrielle had left. After passing a few courtyards and several gardens, she could hear the distinctive sounds of metal on metal and metal on wood. Following the sounds, she quickly reached the sparring ground.

When Gabrielle had followed Oberyn, she found him stabbing his spear into a dead tree stump that had obviously been put there for that precise purpose, judging by the state of the stump. After watching him for a minute Gabrielle cleared her throat and said loudly, "Care for an opponent who can fight back?"

Oberyn was slightly startled by her sudden voice, she stood barely three paces behind him, and when he realized who his company was, he actually managed a small smirk and said, "Please, if you're not afraid to break a nail."

Gabrielle huffed and stabbing her axe in the ground, she removed the rest of her weapons before stepping towards a weapon rack on the side of the sparring ground. Taking two spears from the rack she gave them a casual swirl above her head and behind her back to judge their balance.

Both spears were similar to the one Oberyn was wielding. A wooden shaft of 7 feet long, on top a metal blade of 1 foot long with two long tails that wound around the wooden shaft to reinforce it and keep the tip and shaft connected.

Being surprised by the apparent ease with which Gabrielle used the spears, Oberyn took a ready stance and waited for Gabrielle to go and stand opposite him. When she did, he immediately charged and aimed a stab at her side.

With an almost careless flick, the spear in her right hand intercepted Oberyn's and nearly knocked it from his grip. Bringing her left spear around, she slammed it into Oberyn's knees, causing him to lose his balance and fall on the ground.

It was obvious by his state of disbelief, that it had been a very long time since anyone had managed to floor him during a fight or spar. Gabrielle grinned and said, "It would seem that your reputation is greatly exaggerated. I want you to go all out against me, don't be afraid to harm me, that spear of yours could never penetrate my breastplate."

Seeing Oberyn's disbelieving look, she added, "My armor is made of Dragonforged Steel, which is about twice as strong as ordinary Valyrian steel. And my breastplate is an inch thick on most places."

Seemingly forgetting everything else Oberyn stared in disbelief until he asked, "How can you even move in such heavy armor?"

Gabrielle grinned softly and stabbing one spear into the ground, she grabbed the tip of the other in both hands. Taking the blade between thumb and forefinger in each hand, she easily bent the castle-forged steel as if it was sheet tin. "I'm a lot stronger than normal people Oberyn. So please, do both of us a favor and let it all out. Unleash all of your anger and actually _try_ to harm me. It will do us both some good."

Gabrielle threw the bent spear to the side and picked up the other one in both hands. Oberyn seemed to think for a moment, before something changed in his eyes. They got harder and his face took up a look of utmost concentration.

He started to slowly circle Gabrielle, while occasionally lashing out with his spear. Gabrielle allowed him to move around and blocked a few of his stabs, whilst letting most others glance harmlessly from her armor.

After maybe three minutes, Oberyn had apparently discovered what he wanted to know, as he suddenly started lashing out with a speed he hadn't shown before. He stabbed left and right, aiming at the joints of Gabrielle's armor, which was smart as those were the weakest points.

Over the next few minutes they traded a flurry of blows with a speed that would seem impossible for most men, but to Gabrielle's delight, Oberyn was an excellent and very fast fighter.

Their little spar lasted for fifteen minutes' total, and ended with Gabrielle holding her spear with the tip at Oberyn's throat and Oberyn holding his spear with the tip trapped between the upper-and under arm plates of her left arm.

When Gabrielle released Oberyn, a loud applause suddenly arose and looking around, the two saw that the entire courtyard was filled with people, first and foremost were Rhaella and Doran, who was accompanied by his daughter Arianne, and Oberyn's daughters, Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene. Dozens of others also stood around the edges of the sparring ground, guards, servants and several nobles.

Gabrielle made a small bow before returning her spear to the rack from which it came and picking up her own weapons again. She went back to Rhaella's side and asked softly, "Where are the girls?"

Rhaella replied equally soft, "They had fallen asleep, so I left them with Aurora, I'm sure she'll look after them."

Gabrielle nodded and together the two women returned to where Aurora and the twins were still dozing comfortably.


	8. Chapter 8

This chapter contains a lemon at the end, if you don't want to read it, just skip it and you won't miss anything.

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 8

The journey from Dorne back to King's Landing took Aurora longer than it had taken her to get to Dorne. This was because she was carrying considerably more people than she had so far. Besides Doran and Oberyn, she was carrying Doran's guard, Areo Hotha, his daughter Arianne, his wife, Lady Mellario and the three daughter of Oberyn.

Gabrielle had been forced to make a number of adjustments to the saddle, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to take so many people with them. With twelve passengers, even with her massive size, Aurora's speed was noticeably slower than usual.

About two hours' march from the capital, they saw a column of men and horses. The host was moving towards the city and when they flew over, they recognized Lord Randyll riding at the head of the army. He saluted them, and signaled for them to land.

When Lord Randyll had made his way back to Highgarden, he had only 2,500 men with him. Most of his men were riding through the countryside, to gather what remained of the Tyrell army. And when they had passed the site of the massacre, he had left 2,500 men there, to count the dead and give them a proper burial.

He had ordered his men to stay out of the city, as he wasn't sure how the Tyrells would react to a northern army riding into their city. When he made it to the gates, wearing a thick woolen cape over his armor to ward off the night chill, he found the gates of the fortress firmly closed. When he demanded entrance, he was told, "Piss off you beggar," by the guards on the walls above the gates.

Randyll lowered the hood of his cape and said on a clear tone, "My name is Randyll Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill. I was sent here by His Grace, the King. You can tell your Master, Lord Mace, that I will return to his gates in half an hour, and if I don't find them open, I will ride back to the capital and tell the king about his betrayal." Without adding a further word, he turned his horse around and rode out of the city.

He returned to were the remainder of the men under his command were waiting and told them about the situation in the city. He concluded with the words, "Don't make any threatening movement and don't let yourself be baited. If things go wrong, we get the hell out of here and ask the King to send those Dragon riders here. See if the Fat Fool is still safe behind his walls then."

The Northmen laughed at his words, it was exactly their kind of humor and they were all curious as to what Lord Mace would do against two dragons, they all remembered the ruins of Harrenhall, which they had passed on the way south.

When it was time, Randyll told his men to mount up again and he led them into the city. The guards at the city gates were quickly taken out and bound and gagged if they resisted. When they reached the gates of the castle, they were still shut and ranks of archers were manning the battlements.

A voice came from above them and Randyll recognized it as that of mace Tyrell himself. "Who dares to bring an army before the walls of Highgarden? Do you not know who lives here?"

"I know all too well who lives here, Lord Mace. And as I told your guard before, I am Lord Randyll Tarly of Horn Hill and I was send here by the King. He asks you to come to King's Landing to receive the just reward for the loyalty and courage you have shown during the past year of war."

"YOU LIE," Lord mace yelled from above. "This is a trick to get me away from the safety of Highgarden. I see those rebels besides you 'Lord' Randyll Tarly, did you think I wouldn't recognize Northmen when I saw them. Have you turned cloak? What was the reward the usurper promised you? Would he make you Lord of Highgarden and warden of the South? I know you have long desired my position and the power I wield. But I will not come, no, you can tell that usurper that if he wants Highgarden, he can come here himself. Now be gone or I will order my men to shoot."

"You never were very smart, Lord Oaf, but this has to be the stupidest thing you have ever done. Beware Lord Mace, for the next envoys will not ask nicely." With that Lord Randyll once again turned his horse and followed by his men, he raced out of the city and back to King's Landing.

When Aurora landed before Lord Randyll, Gabrielle told the others to stay seated, while she quickly rolled out the rope and descended to the ground. Standing before Randyll she asked, "What is wrong?"

"The Fat Fool is refusing to leave Highgarden, and I'm not going to risk the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of men, trying to take one of the strongest castles in Westeros. I thought that maybe you and your partner would be so kind as to 'smoke him out'."

Gabrielle thought for a moment before she said, "Send your men ahead to the city, and wait here, I'll send Aurora back this way to pick you up, but I have to drop off a few passengers at the Red Keep."

Lord Randyll nodded and turned to his men before starting to give orders, while Gabrielle climbed back onto the saddle on Aurora.

"What was wrong?" Rhaella asked from behind her.

"Apparently Lord Mace Tyrell has barricaded himself in Highgarden and refuses to come out. Aurora and I are going to have to 'persuade' him, to come out and obey his King's orders."

Rhaella's answer was muffled by the cries of joy and fear from their passengers, as Aurora suddenly jumped into the sky and flew quickly towards the city where she landed before the Red Keep barely 5 minutes later.

When everyone had descended from the saddle, some a lot easier than others, Gabrielle turned to Rhaella and asked, "Would you please keep an eye on the twins? I have a feeling that they might get into trouble now that Oberyn's daughters are here as well."

Rhaella nodded in confirmation and said, "Of course, you just do what you need to do and get back here as soon as possible." Gabrielle bowed slightly before climbing back into the saddle and strapping herself in for the short trip to the Dragonpit.

Once Aurora had landed in the Dragonpit, Gabrielle quickly took the saddle from her back and Aurora turned back into her human form. Stretching her sore shoulders, she groaned, "Ohh I really need to get used to flying such distances again, and with that many passengers, it isn't exactly a joy."

"Stop whining already, you can let your frustration loose on the gates of Highgarden, because I am not going to fly anywhere near that place, until you take out any ballistae that might be present. I do not have the urge to be turned into a flying pincushion."

Aurora gave her wife a saucy smirk and said, "Oh really, I thought you liked it when I 'stab' you in certain places."

"Shut up, and help me get this saddle back in order." Gabrielle got a heavy blush but couldn't deny that Aurora was right. Her wife had magical fingers and she knew just how to use them.

Once the saddle was back in its usual form, Gabrielle changed into her dragon form and Aurora put the saddle on her. After she had put it in place, she climbed the rope and strapped herself in, before Gabrielle climbed the walls of the Dragonpit and jumped into the air from the edge.

It took Gabrielle only a few minutes to reach the spot where they had told Lord Randyll to wait for them. Even in the waning light of the evening, the eyesight of a dragon was formidable. They could tell a hare from a rabbit, from 5,000 feet high. And having heat-sensitive eyes wasn't exactly a downside either.

Gabrielle landed next to Lord Randyll and Aurora tossed him the rope while saying, "Climb on and we'll be off. With any luck we can surprise them and avoid a fight."

Lord Randyll climbed up and Aurora helped him to strap himself into the saddle before Gabrielle took off again. During the flight, Aurora asked Randyll about the defenses of Highgarden and he told her everything he knew.

"There are three rings of walls, one smaller wooden wall around the entire city, and two of stone. The firsts is 30 feet high and around the hill on which the fortress stands, the second is 25 feet high and goes around the top of the hill, protecting the inner keep. Each wall has numerous towers, but only the towers of the middle wall have ballistae and catapult mounted on them. However, there is a considerable garrison, which used to be around 1,500 men, half of which were either archers or crossbowmen. I don't know how strong dragon scales are, but we might have to strike the first blow if we don't want to be shot out of the sky."

Aurora could still feel the pain of the lances piercing her side and shoulder when she thought about it and she had no intention of risking her partner suffering the same fate. Turning in the saddle she said, "We only need to worry about the Ballistae and the catapults, normal arrows and bolts can't penetrate dragon scales. Her wings will be a target, but the structure of the wings makes it so that the arrows will go straight through, instead of tearing the membranes like they would with the wings of say, a bat."

The rest of the journey, which lasted about an hour, was spent in silence until they saw the softly illuminated shape of the castle of Highgarden. Aurora focused on her mental link with Gabrielle and looked through her eyes.

As Randyll had already told them, only the middle wall had towers with engines of war upon them. About half a dozen of each, ballistae and mangonels, were alternated on the towers and aimed at the fields surrounding the fortress.

They saw relatively few guards on the middle wall, which was fortunate as that meant there would be few casualties if it came to a confrontation. Aurora and Gabrielle mentally weighed the pro's and con's of a flyby over the towers and just burning the engines, as that would inevitably lead to casualties amongst the garrison, something they were very eager to avoid.

In the end it was decided that Aurora would jump off at a dark part of the wall and Gabrielle would stay out of sight until Aurora had cleared the wall by hand. Randyll would stay with Gabrielle, as his armor was much noisier than that of Aurora, and she needed to be as stealthy as possible.

The plan was executed without a hitch, Gabrielle flew quietly to a dark part of the wall, Aurora lowered herself to the wall with the help of the rope, and Gabrielle flew off again.

Aurora crept towards the first tower and snuck inside. She carefully climbed the stairs to the top of the tower and found the ballista to be unmanned. Making use of the opportunity, Aurora drew one of her daggers and cut the string of the great crossbow, disabling it from use until it could be repaired.

When she descended the stars again, she noticed a patrol of guards coming towards her and quickly hid in a dark alcove beneath the stair in the tower. The three guards walked past her without paying attention and Aurora crept up behind them.

She clamped her left hand over the mouth of the last guard and held him in a choke hold until he fainted. She carefully lowered him to the ground and repeated the process with his two comrades. She tied them up with their own belts and put a piece of their tunics in their mouths to gag them.

This process repeated itself a dozen times, she cut the strings of the ballistae and destroyed the release mechanism of the mangonels. She had to neutralize two score guards, which was very little, considering the wall was a good ¾ mile long.

When the last tower was secure, Aurora descended the wall and marched up to the gates of the inner wall, the same gates that Lord Randyll had found closed two days ago.

She grabbed her battleaxe from her back and stuck it with the point in the ground, before slamming her armored right fist several times against the heavy oaken doors.

'BANG, BANG, BANG'. The sound of her knocking woke half the city and it wasn't long until guards started streaming onto the battlements above her.

"WHO GOES THERE?" a guard yelled from above.

Aurora took her axe from the ground, walked a few passes backwards until she could see the men that had spoken to her and replied. "IN THE NAME OF KING RHAEGAR, FIRST OF HIS NAME, KING OF THE ANDALS, THE RHOYNAR AND THE FIRST MEN, LORD OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS AND PROTECTOR OF THE REALM, I ORDER YOU TO OPEN THIS GATE."

Her metallic voice instilled fear into everyone who heard her, but the gates remained firmly closed, so Aurora added, "You have ten seconds to open this gate and bring me to Mace Tyrell, or I will open these gates myself and personally drag him from his hiding hole."

She counted silently to ten and when she got there, nothing happened, as she expected. She lifted her axe and said calmly, "Time's up." she marched to the gate and slammed her axe into the massive wooden gates, which shuddered under the force of the impact.

Blow after blow Aurora dealt to the gates and soon they started to splinter. Arrows were shot at her but she shrugged them off. Stones were thrown from the murder-holes above her, but they bounced from her armor. Half boiling oil was dropped on her and set on fire, but Aurora covered herself in red fire and the burning oil was burned up as soon as it came into contact with the dragon fire. And all the while, she kept hacking away at the gates.

It took her five minutes to break through the gates and finally the tree sized beam that kept it closed, broke under the violence of her blows. She gave the gates a mighty kick and the thick wooden doors were thrown open.

Awaiting her on the other side were roughly 200 men, in hastily put on uniforms, many lacking any kind of armor, and with fear clearly visible in their eyes. Aurora lowered her axe and said with a metallic growl, "If you don't want to die tonight, I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender."

About half of the men threw down their weapons and fled into the darkness. The others slowly came towards her, none wanted to be the first to get into the reach of her battle axe.

With a grin on her hidden face, Aurora removed her helmet and grabbed the small black horn from her belt. She brought it to her lips and gave a mighty blast. Far above them Gabrielle responded to the horn call and she came flying down in a dive.

The remaining men screamed in fear as they saw the massive black shape falling towards them in the moonlight. With a heavy THUD, that shook the ground, Gabrielle landed behind the men and they fled past Aurora into the darkness through the gates.

The rope was thrown from the saddle and Lord Randyll came sliding down it. As soon as he was on the ground, he removed his helmet and threw up on the grass besides the gatehouse. "That was utterly terrifying, I don't want to ever have to endure that again," he managed to say.

Aurora couldn't hold in her mirth as she saw the gruff lord throwing up while sitting on his hands and knees. Gabrielle had managed to turn around in the confined space between the gatehouse and the main keep and was staring through a window on the 4th floor.

When Lord Randyll was done throwing up, Aurora helped him back to his feet and gave him back his helmet, which he put on. "Shall we go in?" she asked with an innocent smile on her face.

Lord Randyll just nodded and Aurora put her own helmet back on before grabbing her battle axe again and marching to the gated of the keep.

These doors fell after a single blow of her axe, seeing as they were only shut with a lock. Once inside the hall, she followed Randyll's directions towards the living areas of the Tyrell family. They passed the occasional guard, but most either ran away when they saw Aurora coming, or they were quickly disarmed and knocked out.

It was obvious that most of the guards had already fled when the news had spread that a dragon had landed in the courtyard.

When they reached the living area, they found Lord Mace Tyrell hiding in his closet, while his wife Lady Alerie Hightower was calmly waiting for her fate while sitting at a table and drinking a glass of wine.

When Aurora kicked the door open, Lady Alerie almost dropped the glass in surprise but she calmly stood up and said, "On behalf of myself and my children, I welcome you to Highgarden and express my hope that you will not hold us accountable for the mistakes of my foolish husband. Might I know your name Ser, as I would like to know who is able to ride such a mighty beast." She pointed towards the window and Aurora saw that Gabrielle had put her head into the opening.

With a soft chuckle, Aurora removed her helmet and said to a stunned Lady Alerie, "I am not a Ser, my lady, and my name is Aurora."

In the meantime, Lord Randyll had removed his own helmet and made his way to a shaking closet. Pulling the door open he commented dryly, "What an unusual place to find the Warden of the South. Are you looking for your courage, Lord Mace?"

When the head of house Tyrell refused to answer or even leave the closet, Aurora marched towards it and dragged him out by his arm. Randyll was unable to contain his grin as he said, "I warned you that the next envoy would not ask nicely, you should have listened to me."

Lord Mace was sputtering undiscernibly until Aurora dropped him on the floor and spoke, "Lord Mace Tyrell, in the name of His Grace, King Rhaegar, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, I place you under arrest. You have failed to answer the royal summons to appear before the king and to answer for your cowardice on the field of battle, which as a direct consequence, allowed the Lannister army to reach King's Landing and sack the city. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Lord Mace only sputtered and Aurora scoffed, "I thought not," before she picked him up by the back of his tunic, stretching the fabric and almost tearing it, and threw him towards the window where Gabrielle's head was still resting.

Mace looked fearfully at the massive dragon head that towered above him, and when Gabrielle opened her mouth, he fainted.

"That's enough sweetie," Aurora said offhandedly and Gabrielle closed her mouth again, before withdrawing her head and carefully reaching into the chamber with her left front paw. She scooped up the limp figure of Mace Tyrell and carried him out of the room.

Aurora turned towards lady Alerie and said, "Your husband will receive a fair trial and will be given the opportunity to plead his case before the Lords of the other Great Houses. You, your children and the rest of your house will not be held accountable for his crimes, and your son Willas will remain the Heir to Highgarden. And the daughter you are carrying, will still be able to find a proper match when she grows older."

At those last words Lady Alerie fell silent and stared with amazement at her belly, "I, I'm pregnant?" she asked with disbelief in her voice.

Aurora nodded and said, "Yes, I thought you knew, I apologize if it is a shock for you."

"No, no it isn't a shock it's just, I hadn't hoped for a fourth child, as my husband isn't as active in bed as I would like him to be." She blushed a little as she said this and Aurora gave her a knowing grin.

Turning to Lord Randyll, Aurora said, "Lord Randyll, can I entrust you with ensuring that the family of Lord Mace makes it to the capital safely?"

Randyll bowed and replied, "It would be my pleasure my lady, I assume you will take Lord Mace to King's Landing immediately?"

Aurora nodded and said, "I will, I leave for King's Landing in five minutes," turning to Lady Alerie she added, "I would like to ask you to order that the remains of the Tyrell army are to be placed under the direct command of Lord Randyll Tarly, as he has proven his worth to the king and carries his trust."

Lady Alerie bowed and replied, "I shall see to it at once My Lady." She motioned for Randyll to follow her, which he did, and they left the room together.

Aurora walked towards the window where Gabrielle's head had reappeared and she asked, "Is the Fat Fool secured?" Gabrielle nodded her mighty head and as in answer she turned around partially to show Mace Tyrell sitting in the saddle, though the straps weren't secured yet. Aurora leaped out of the room and landed softly on Gabrielle's neck, which she then used to walk over and reach the saddle.

After strapping in the still unconscious form of Mace Tyrell, Aurora secured herself and Gabrielle carefully maneuvered herself towards one of the larger courtyards from which she would be able to get herself airborne.

During the flight back to the capital, Mace woke about halfway and judging by his expression, he was about to throw up, apparently the men of the Reach weren't that suited for travel on dragon back, so she warned him.

"If you throw up on her, I'll cut you lose and she'll catch you, with her teeth. The King has asked Lord Randyll to bring you back unharmed, but he has given no such orders to me, so you had better behave."

Mace nodded quickly but didn't say a word for the entirety of the journey.

It was well past midnight when they finally arrived at King's Landing, and Gabrielle carefully landed in the courtyard before the Red Keep. Aurora loosened the straps that kept Mace in place and told him to descend the rope to the ground, where he was awaited by a trio of guards.

"Lock him in a room and treat him well, but don't let him escape," she told the guards, who nodded before two of them took Mace between them and marched away, while the third returned to their post.

Gabrielle jumped back into the air and with a dozen flaps of her mighty wings, they reached the Dragonpit and descended into its dark interior.

When they emerged again, they were both in human form and they quickly made their way towards the Red Keep. It had been quite the day for all and they were eager to reach their bed.

When they entered their personal quarters, they saw that Silvana and Lissena were sleeping peacefully in their own bed, while one of the Queen's Ladies-in-waiting was dozing in a chair before their balcony.

Aurora and Gabrielle softly helped each other to remove their armor and then put on their bathrobes before they woke the Lady-in-waiting. With a soft exclamation she awoke but after a 'Shhst', from Gabrielle, the young girl recognized them and stood up. She curtsied and whispered, "Good evening My Ladies, I was bid by Her Grace to watch the girls until your arrival, so I shall take my leave now."

Aurora and Gabrielle thanked the girl before she silently left the room. Softly staring into each other's eyes, Aurora and Gabrielle slowly brought their lips together and shared a kiss that started tender, but soon turned into something much more passionate.

XXX LEMON XXX

They untied the other's bathrobe and removed their smallclothes, all the while not breaking their kiss, before they slowly walked towards the bed and Aurora fell backwards on it, with Gabrielle on top of her.

Gabrielle finally broke the kiss, only to place them on the side of Aurora's neck and biting her softly, which initiated a low moan from her partner. They were careful not to make too much noise, because they didn't want to wake the twins.

Gabrielle slowly kissed her way downwards, stopping at the nipples on Aurora's large, perfect tits. She brought her left hand up to Aurora's right breast and started to pull on the ring in her nipple, eliciting another soft moan from her wife's throat, while suckling on the other nipple with her mouth.

Gabrielle put her tongue through the ring in Aurora's other nipple and pulled hard on it, before biting down on the stretched out nipple.

Meanwhile her right hand had moved downwards to Aurora's slit and was gently rubbing on a third ring, which was put right through her clit.

With another soft moan, Aurora managed to free her arms from between their bodies, and started to kneed the supple round ass-cheeks of Gabrielle, before moving one hand between her legs and inserting two fingers into Gabrielle's still tight channel.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH," the moan that left Gabrielle's throat at the sudden intrusion into her slit was so loud that they both stopped their movements to listen for any sound that might indicate the girls had woken up, but nothing was heard.

Aurora was the first to continue her movements, and with a single push, she switched places with her lover. Now being on top, Aurora repeated Gabrielle's ministrations, slowly kissing her way downwards to Gabrielle's equally perfect tits with the large nipples which each held a golden ring with a sapphire stone set between the ends.

All the while Gabrielle hadn't removed her fingers from Aurora's slit and she was still pumping three fingers in and out at a steady rhythm while flicking her clit piercing with her thumb. After a few minutes they both moaned in pleasure as they shared their first climax since they had arrived in Westeros.

Not wasting any time, Aurora lowered herself down further until her head was level with Gabrielle's slit and she pressed her lips onto Gabrielle's clit, biting below the silver ring located there.

Still in the afterglow of her first release, Gabrielle immediately moaned again as she was hit with a second orgasm, releasing a burst of cum which Aurora drank eagerly. When she finished lapping up the result of Gabrielle's ecstasy, Aurora pulled on the trio of rings which were put in each of Gabrielle's outer lips, pulling them apart and baring her centre, which she immediately stuck her tongue into.

After a few minutes Gabrielle let out another moan of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH," before she fell down on the bed, totally spent.

Aurora crept up next to her wife and whispered huskily, "I promised I'd make it up to you didn't I?"

Gabrielle lazily opened her eyes and said softly, "You sure did sweetie, you sure did." Before her eyes fell closed and she began to snore softly.

Aurora gave a soft kiss on her wife's nose, before she pulled the blankets over them both and snuggled into her side. "Sleep well my love, and dream of our future as a family."


	9. Chapter 9

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 9

The next morning Aurora and Gabrielle were woken by two pairs of hands that were poking them softly through the blanket and Lissena who asked, "Mom, are you awake yet?"

"Am now," both adults groaned groggily and the girls giggled.

"Good," Silvana said, "We need to warm our eggs but we can't get the fire started."

Aurora opened one eye and with a frown she said, "Then why didn't you just ask one of the servants, I'm sure there are plenty around here."

"Yes, we know," both girls said as one and Silvana continued, "But they don't do it as cool as you, we want those blue flames, they were pretty."

Now Gabrielle opened her eyes as well and brought her right hand above the blankets. She flicked her fingers and a blue fireball flew from the tips of her fingers to the fireplace in the corner of the room. The twins cheered in excitement and hurried to put their eggs into the fireplace.

They used a pair of tongs to place the eggs into the fire, though normal fire didn't harm them, dragonfire still would, until they were fully grown.

Aurora and Gabrielle sat up in the bed and smiled softly at the excitement on the faces of the twins, it was obvious that they couldn't wait until the eggs would hatch. Both adults stretched lazily and watched the two girls for a few more minutes before they got out of bed and dressed for the day.

The next week followed more or less the same schedule. In the morning Aurora and Gabrielle would spend a few hours with the twins, getting to know each other and working further towards bonding as a family.

The afternoons they were separated, the twins would stay with Lyanna and Rhaella, learning things like embroidering, singing, dancing and most importantly, etiquette. To use the words of the Queen, Lyanna, Silvana and Lissena had the table manners of a bunch of wildlings, just stuffing everything in their mouths that was within their reach.

Most afternoons saw Aurora and Gabrielle away from the capital, flying to distant castles to bring lords and their families to King's Landing. Rhaegar had summoned every lord and landed knight to King's Landing, for he wanted everyone to be present when he declared some new laws and informed them of the current status of the Seven Kingdoms.

After a week came the day of the royal funerals, and it saw the girls were dressed in somber black dresses, while Aurora and Gabrielle just wore their armor.

They had breakfast in the company of Rhaegar, Lyanna, Rhaella and Rhaenys, who were all dressed in simple black clothing, to express their state of mourning. After breakfast they headed to the throne room, where the four bodies of the royal family had been brought after they had been prepared for burial by the Silent Sisters.

At the doors, they met Doran, Oberyn and the rest of the delegation from Dorne. Contrary to their own group, the Martells were not dressed in black, but in simple, unadorned robes of red and yellow

Rhaegar motioned for the two guards at the door, Ser Gerold and Ser Oswell, to open them, which they did silently, and he led the group into the throne room. The four Targaryans were placed before the throne, on four tables with the Mad King on the left, next to Viserys, who was next to Elia, and the babe Aegon was on the right.

They had all been dressed in beautiful clothes, with the exception of Aerys, who had been dressed in a simple tunic and trousers of black. Elia wore a deep red dress, sewn with pearls and her hair was braided with care in one long braid which rested over her left shoulder and onto her breast. Her disfigured neck was hidden beneath a black shawl of Myrish silk.

Viserys was dressed in a simple red and black tunic, with the three-headed dragon on black embroidered on his chest. His silver blond hair had been combed backwards and he wore a simple silver circlet on his head.

The babe Aegon had been put into a small box of black wood, his wounds being too gruesome to be shown.

This was the first time Doran and Oberyn saw their sister since she had died, as Rhaegar had refused to let them see her until she was properly dressed and placed on the table. Both brothers sank on their knees before the body of their sister and wept in silence for a few minutes.

Arianna and Oberyn's daughters stood silently at the side, they were too young to have known their aunt when she still lived in Dorne, and after she married Rhaegar, the visits had been short and long in between. However, their fathers had told them much about her and they witnessed their fathers' pain and sorrow.

When the last tears had been shed, both Doran and Oberyn rose up and at a sign from Rhaegar, they took a seat on the row of chairs that was placed on the elevation that also held the Iron Throne.

On insistence of Rhaegar, Rhaella took her seat in the Iron Throne, as he had said,  
"Today will be your last day as Queen, so it is only fitting that you should sit on the throne." He and Lyanna took a seat on her right hand, and Doran and Oberyn were seated on her left.

This would be the first public appearance of Lyanna at Rhaegar's side, and her dress had been chosen with care. It was very wide, so it hid her baby bump, and Rhaella's dress was similar. They hadn't made a secret of the Queen's pregnancy, but it wasn't widely advertised either, Lyanna's pregnancy was to be kept a secret until after their coronation.

Aurora and Gabrielle took up their position on either side of Rhaegar. The Sers, Barristan Selmy, Jonothor Darry, Arthur Dayne, and Prince Lewyn Martell, were each standing at the head end of one of the tables bearing a body. The twins were seated on the front row of chairs in the great room. They were sitting on either side of one of the Queen's Ladies-in-waiting and were looking rather subdued, which was odd for their normally cheerful behavior, no doubt they were thinking of their own family that had been slain and whose bodies were consumed by the fires in Flea Bottom.

Ser Gerold and Ser Oswell had closed the door after they entered, but now they opened them again and one by one, the nobility of the Seven Kingdoms entered. First to enter were the remaining Lords of the great houses, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully.

They were followed by the heirs of the houses whose lords were captured or incapacitated. First was Willas Tyrell, who was accompanied by his mother Lady Alerie and his grandmother, Olenna Redwyne.

He was followed by Stannis Baratheon, the eldest of Robert's brothers still looked like a skeleton, after the nearly a year long siege of Storms End. He was accompanied by his six-year-old little brother Renly and an unknown man who was missing the first joints of every finger on his left hand.

Third was Tyrion Lannister. The ten-year-old boy looked not a day past four in height, but he kept his head held high and despite the shackles on his wrists, he refused to feel any shame or act a prisoner. In fact, it was he himself who had suggested to Rhaegar that until the trials were over, he be treated as any other prisoner, since his family was the cause for so much grief.

Last of the great houses to appear were the Greyjoy's. Lord Quellon Greyjoy had claimed he was unable to attend, so he had sent three of his grandchildren in his stead, all children of his eldest son Balon. They were two boys, Rodrik and Maron, and a girl named Yara.

Next came dozens of lesser lords, but the first of those, to enter, were the Lords Randyll Tarly and Paxter Redwyne, both of whom had contributed greatly in the struggle against Tywin Lannister.

In a long procession, which lasted nearly two hours, all of the Lords, Knights, nobles and foreign dignitaries, showed their respect for the murdered royals, before taking a seat in the throne room.

When everyone was seated, Rhaella stood up from the Iron Throne and spoke for the first time that day. "Welcome all of you. It brings comfort to me and my family to see that all of you support us in these difficult times. I would like to add that today we do not only mourn the members of my family who were murdered, but also the countless others who have died as a consequence of this terrible civil war that ravaged our kingdoms for the past year.

Today will be my last day as Queen, tomorrow, my eldest son and only surviving child, will be crowned, with his wife at his side. All of you have probably heard the lies Robert Baratheon has spread, but allow me to rectify them now.

After the birth of Prince Aegon, Princess Elia was no longer able to bear children, so she urged Rhaegar to find a second wife, one who was strong of body and who would be able to give him a true heir, as Aegon had been stillborn."

A loud rumor went through the hall until Rhaella raise her hands and the hall grew quiet again. "The boy known as Prince Aegon, was an orphan boy from the city, who somewhat resemble the real Aegon, and he was introduced to Aerys to save Elia from his wrath.

Rhaegar found a new wife, one he fell in love with during the great tourney at Harrenhal, the Lady Lyanna Stark. Despite her betrothal to Robert Baratheon, Lady Lyanna refused to marry the man, as she saw him for what he really was. They sought the blessing of Lord Rickard Stark, Lyanna's father and he gave it willingly.

With her father's blessing they were married in a quiet and secret ceremony in the Godswood of Winterfell. They are married in the eyes of The Old Gods and the New, and they married out of love. So tomorrow, they shall be crowned as our new King and Queen, and they will lead you all in this time of rebuilding and healing."

Rhaella sat down again and Rhaegar stood up next. "Tomorrow I will be crowned, but today we mourn the dead. I would ask you all to stand up and to follow us as we make our way to the great Sept of Baelor, where the funeral pyres have been prepared."

He looked besides him at Aurora and Gabrielle, who understood without him needing to say anything, and they left the throne room through a side door. From there they quickly headed to the stables and mounted two horses that were waiting for them there. They hurried towards the great Dragonpit from where they would fly back.

Rhaegar, and Ser Barristan took up the stretcher on which Viserys lay, while Doran and Oberyn picked up the one bearing their sister. Ser Arthur and Ser Jonothor took up the body of the Mad King and Prince Lewyn picked up the small wooden coffin holding the body of Aegon.

They walked across the throne room and exited trough the great double doors, where they were joined by Ser Gerold and Ser Oswell, who went to walk before them to clear the way.

In a long and slow procession, they carried the bodies past tens-of-thousands of people who lined the streets from the gates of the Red Keep, all the way to the closed doors of the Great Sept.

On the top of the stairs of the Sept were prepared four large wooden tables with firewood piled under and around them. The stretchers were placed on the tables and the people gathered in the large square before the Sept.

When the square was full, except for two large clearings which were kept open, and all of the nobles were gathered, Rhaegar took the familiar small, black, horn from his belt and blew it. From the top of the Dragonpit, Aurora and Gabrielle answered with a roar of their own and they flew towards the Sept. For the first time, the people of Westeros saw both dragons at the same time, but no one noticed that they carried neither saddles nor riders.

They flew carefully over the city, not wanting to damage it more than it already was, and landed very carefully on the two open spaces on either side of the square before the Sept.

Turning their necks towards the Sept, they brought their heads towards the pyres and very carefully, they released a single, tight, burst of flame each. The two colors mingled and soon the four tables were burning in bright purple flames.

The intense heat of the dragonfire turned the bodies and everything around them to ashes in a matter of minutes, and soon nothing remained but four blackened areas covered by a layer of fine ashes.

Rhaegar motioned towards four servants, who quickly came towards him. Each of the servant was carrying a small black wooden box. Rhaegar took one of the boxes from a servant and turned to Doran and Oberyn. Handing them the box he said, "Gather your sister's ashes, and bring her home to Dorne."

Both brothers bowed in thanks and Doran accepted the box. They kneeled at what remained of their sister and using their hands, they gathered the fine ashes and put them into the box.

Rhaella did the same for Viserys, while Lyanna did it for Aegon. The ashes of Aerys were gathered by the servant who had held the last box, and they would later be thrown into the waters of Blackwater Bay, whereas those of Viserys and Aegon would be added to those of the other Targaryans in the crypt on Dragonstone.

When the funeral was over, Aurora and Gabrielle flew back towards the Dragonpit, while Rhaegar, Lyanna and Rhaella walked back to the Red Keep with the present members of the Great Houses.

The nobles and the smallfolk dispersed slowly, the nobles to wherever they had their lodgings, and the smallfolk back to their homes, as far as they still had any, or otherwise to the great encampments which had been erected outside the walls until the city had been rebuild.

When Aurora and Gabrielle reached the Red Keep again, they were awaited by Ser Jonothor, who informed them that Rhaegar had called a meeting of the Small Council, and that they were expected to make their appearance.

He led them to the Small Council chambers in the Tower of the Hand, where he left them at the door before returning to his duties elsewhere. Gabrielle knocked on the door and Rhaegar's voice came from within. "Enter." Gabrielle opened the door and together they walked into the council chamber.

Already present were Rhaegar, Lyanna, Rhaella, the Lords Eddard, Jon and Hoster, Prince Doran and Prince Oberyn, Stannis Baratheon, Randyll Tarly, Paxter Redwyne, Alerie Tyrell, Rodrik and Maron Greyjoy, Tyrion Lannister still in shackles, and Gerold Hightower along with the Sers, Barristan, Oswell, Arthur and Prince Lewyn.

Rhaegar saw them enter and motioned for them to stand on his left, Lyanna and Rhaella were already seated on his right and the rest of the company was spread out around three tables that were placed opposite them.

When everyone was seated, Rhaegar stood up and spoke, "When my army reached the Trident, we were outnumbered and desperate, and in my darkest hour, I prayed to the Old Gods and they answered me. They showed me how to contact two very powerful allies." He indicated Aurora and Gabrielle who stepped forward and removed their helmets.

Many of the Lords had never seen them without their helmets before and so the familiar shocks and cries of surprise were heard when they revealed their faces.

"They helped me to defeat Robert Baratheon without more bloodshed. They brought my wife to me, and she convinced the Lords Eddard Stark, Hoster Tully and Jon Arryn, to abandon the rebel cause and to join me instead, as they too had been lied to by the would-be usurper.

These three Lords have been pardoned from any and all crimes they might have committed during this war and they are here now as our honored guests and allies.

Robert Baratheon and Tywin Lannister are both spending their time in one of the black cells beneath this very keep, along with most of the nobility from the Westerlands. Tywin's twins, Jamie and Cersei are also in custody, Cersei thanks to Lord Paxter, who was so wise to send his fleet from the Arbor to Lannisport to stop them from doing more harm.

Tyrion Lannister," the young boy looked up and stood on his chair, which put him at eyelevel with Rhaegar, and bowed. "You were wise enough to avoid further bloodshed by yielding Casterly Rock to Lord Paxter, and for this you have my thanks, for I shall have great need of wisdom in the years to come. You are the heir to Casterly Rock, and that you shall stay, until the day of your trial." Tyrion bowed and sat down again.

"Stannis Baratheon," the young man stood up and bowed before Rhaegar, "You stayed loyal to the crown, and defied your brother's will, which led to you being besieged in Storm's End. As a reward for your loyalty and as recompense for the hardships suffered by you, and the men that stayed loyal to you, my Mother the Queen and I have decided to name you Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Furthermore, it is our wish that you take up the seat of Master of Laws on the Small Council."

Stannis swallowed in disbelief until he said, "You honor me beyond words, Your Grace. All I did was my duty and I expected no reward in return."

"We know that, Lord Stannis," Rhaella replied, "But you risked everything for us, so this is the least we can do to repay you."

Stannis bowed again before sitting back down.

Now Rhaegar turned to Randyll Tarly and Paxter Redwyne. "Lord Randyll and Lord Paxter, the two of you managed to save the honor of the Reach when the Warden of the South, Mace Tyrell abandoned it.

Lord Randyll, you kept your men together and delayed the Lannister army as much as possible, despite that you were vastly outnumbered, and afterwards helped clear them out of the city. Lord Paxter, as I said you took Lannisport and captured Cersei Lannister. To reward you both for your services and loyalty, my mother and I have decided to bestow upon you the following titles.

Lord Paxter Redwyne, I name you Grand-Admiral of the Western Navies and acting Warden of the West, until a new Lord is named or comes of age.

Lord Randyll Tarly, I name you acting Warden of the South, and task you with raising Willas Tyrell, to be a man worthy of his name, and not to be a cowering wimp like his father. Furthermore, I give you the position of Master of Armies on the Small Council."

Both lords bowed in gratitude before sitting back down.

"Rodrik and Maron Greyjoy," both young men stood up and bowed before Rhaegar continued, "I am grateful to your grandfather that he did not join the rebel cause during this conflict. I know the Ironborn are not warriors for land battles, but your support to the rebels could have devastated the western coastline, so I am grateful that your grandfather stayed loyal."

Both boys bowed and Rodrik said, "But of course Your Grace, our family wouldn't dream of rebelling against you. In fact, we come bearing a proposal to avoid further hostilities."

Rhaegar motioned for him to continue and he explained. "The Iron Islands are a harsh place to live. Our islands are bare, and little grows there, but they are rich in iron and we make stout ships. My grandfather proposes the following, we establish trade between the Iron Islands and the rest of Westeros, we trade iron and ships, for food and wood."

The rest of the lords in the chamber all made noises of approval, but Aurora noticed the slight glimmer in the eyes of Rodrik and Maron, it was too early to draw conclusions, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was not entirely right.

Rhaegar nodded in acceptance of Rodrik's words and said, "I'm sure we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement, but details will have to wait for now. Please inform your grandfather that I will eagerly await his arrival to discuss this proposal in further detail."

The two Ironborn bowed and retook their seats, before Rhaegar stood up again and spoke. "That was all for now I believe. If none of you have any more to say, than I bid you all a good day and hope to see you tomorrow. Would the Lords Eddard, Jon and Hoster please remain behind?"

The three lords did as they were asked but the others soon cleared out of the chamber. When the door closed behind Ser Gerold, Rhaegar spoke again. "My lords, I am in need of a new Hand of the King, and I would ask one of you to take that responsibility on your shoulders."

All three looked a little lost, neither of them was very accustomed to the politics of court and they didn't exactly look forward to accept the title. Rhaegar noticed their hesitation and said, "Do not worry my Lords. The title will be mostly ceremonial, I will be much more involved than my predecessor ever was, and my mother will stay on the Small Council in an advisory role."

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Jon Arryn spoke up. "I would be honored to accept the responsibility my lord, but I have an issue of my own. I have no children left, my son has died, and if I should die than what would happen to my house? I request that you allow me a year to return to the Vale and get everything in order there. And once my wife, the Lady Lysa is pregnant, we will come back to King's Landing together."

Rhaegar again nodded to indicate his acceptance and the trio of lords took their leave, before he turned to Aurora and Gabrielle. "What will be your plans for the future, I don't think your talents lie in rebuilding do they?"

Both shook their heads and Aurora said, "No Rhaegar, you are correct. Our talents are for war, and that is what we shall use them for. When you are crowned and everything is more or less stable in Westeros, we shall take the twins and leave for a tour of Essos."

Rhaegar nodded again sadly and replied, "Mother told me of your intention to leave us, and I understand. I don't like it but I understand why you are going to leave. Is there anything you need from me?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a knowing look before Gabrielle said, "We'll let you know soon, we have a few things to take care of and some people to talk to but we'll let you know."

Rhaegar accepted their words rather stoically but Lyanna said, "That's all right, just take your time, we would be glad to have you here a little longer." Both Aurora and Gabrielle inclined their heads in thanks, before standing up and leaving the room.

They made their way towards Maegor's Holdfast, where they found the twins playing with Rhaenys under the watchful eyes of two Ladies-in-waiting. As soon as the doors opened, Silvana and Lissena jumped up and ran towards them saying, "Mom," before slamming into them and hugging them around the waist.

The two women put their own arms against their daughters and pressed them against them. "Have you been behaving sweethearts?"

Both girls nodded at Aurora's question and she looked at the Ladies-in-waiting for confirmation, which she received promptly.

The princes had also risen from the floor and came walking toward them before she asked, "When can I see daddy and mommy Lya again?"

"Right now sweetie," came the voice of Rhaegar from behind them and Rhaenys cheered as she ran into her father's arms.

"DADDY," she yelled loudly before looking over his shoulder and asking, "Daddy who is that?"

Rhaegar looked behind him expecting to only see Lyanna, but instead they saw a girl standing in the doorway. She was roughly the same age as Silvana and Lissena, had an overall skinny appearance and pitch black hair that hung to halfway down her neck, and looked very nervous while stealing glances left and right into the hallway.

Rhaegar put his daughter back on the ground before he turned around and approached the girl who curtsied and said, "G… good day Y… Your Grace, my name is Yara Greyjoy, and I ha… have come to warn you for my bro… brothers, they are planning to AHHHHH!"

Her sentence was cut short when a throwing axe lodged itself in her lower back, just under her ribcage.


	10. Chapter 10

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 10

 _Rhaegar looked behind him expecting to only see Lyanna, but instead they saw a girl standing in the doorway. She was roughly the same age as Silvana and Lissena, had an overall skinny appearance and pitch black hair that hung to halfway down her neck, and looked very nervous while stealing glances left and right into the hallway._

 _Rhaegar put his daughter back on the ground before he turned around and approached the girl who curtsied and said, "G… good day Y… Your Grace, my name is Yara Greyjoy, and I ha… have come to warn you for my bro… brothers, they are planning to AHHHHH!"_

 _Her sentence was cut short when a throwing axe lodged itself in her lower back, just under her ribcage_

Yara fell down without saying another word and they could hear footsteps running off in the hallway. Aurora sprinted out the door, in hot pursuit of the would-be assassin, while Gabrielle kneeled besides Yara and started to inspect the wound.

Aurora ran out the door and could just see a hooded and cloaked figure disappearing around a corner. Her armored boots echoed throughout the halls of the holdfast as she ran after the unknown person.

The pursuit lasted for nearly five minutes, until the figure passed a ballroom and Aurora had a clear line of sight. While running she drew one of the long daggers on her right hip and threw it towards the figure in front of her and she hit true.

The dagger lodged itself in the upper leg of the figure and she heard the voice of a man cry out. "ARRHG." Before the man slammed to the ground.

Aurora hurried on and dragged the hood from the man's face, revealing Maron Greyjoy. "You have some nerve, trying to kill your own sister." Aurora snarled at the man.

"That little whore is not my sister, little freak that she is." Came the hissing reply. In answer Aurora kicked him in the head and was dragging him back to where she had left Rhaegar and the others, when three Gold cloaks came running into the ballroom with Ser Oswell Whent in front of them.

Aurora greeted the men curtly and said, "Ser Oswell, spread the word to find Rodrik Greyjoy and bring him to the black cells. Alive if possible, but not necessarily, just make sure he doesn't leave this city."

Ser Oswell nodded and ran back out of the room, with the gold cloaks behind him.

It took Aurora only two minutes to return to the others, as she used several shortcuts Maron hadn't known about. When she arrived back at the room, Gabrielle was hovering over the still body of Yara, who had been placed face-down on a couch so that Gabrielle could inspect her wound.

Dropping the unconscious body of Maron unceremoniously on the floor, Aurora kneeled down next to her wife and asked softly, "How is she?"

"She'll make it," Gabrielle said with a grin, "we are dealing with a very smart girl here." Yara's dress had been removed, and her back was bare, so Gabrielle could stitch up the 3-inch-long gash on her lower back.

Gabrielle motioned with her hand towards the dress, which had been discarded on the floor and when Aurora picked it up, she immediately knew what Gabrielle had meant. The dress weighed more than 20 pounds, which was caused by the shirt of mail that had been sewn between the two layers of wool that formed the bodice of her dress.

"The mail stopped the axe head from penetrating more than an inch, which is very fortunate because only half an inch deeper, and it would have hit her stomach." Gabrielle's words caused Aurora to manage a small grin as she thought of the girl's ingenuity.

When Gabrielle was done stitching up the wound, she cleaned Yara's back with a wet cloth before washing her hands in a bowl with warm water which had been brought by one of the Ladies-in-waiting.

"Who is it?" Gabrielle asked a little casually and Aurora revealed Maron's face.

"But, but, that's her own brother." Lyanna exclaimed, "how could he try to kill her, but more importantly, _why_ would he try to kill her."

Aurora shrugged before she said, "Let's ask him shall we," and she kicked him viciously in the side, causing him to wake abruptly with a cry of pain. He rolled onto his back, but couldn't get up as Aurora placed her foot on his chest, keeping him pinned down.

Rhaenys and the twins had been taken to a different room by the Ladies-in-waiting who had looked after them before, and the remaining people in the room, all came to stand over him. "You have a few things to explain young man," Rhaegar said sternly before asking, "Why in the seven hells did you try to kill your own sister?"

"That little whore is not my sister," Maron roared again, "stupid little bitch is nothing but a sneaking traitor."

"A traitor of what?"

"Piss off blondie, I'll never tell you that."

Aurora took that as a challenge and asked with a dark smirk on her face, "You wanna bet about that, cause I promise you, I'll have you singing in ten minutes."

Maron's only reply was to spit on the black steel of her shin guard and Aurora drove her foot into Maron's chest, resulting in several 'SNAP's' as a few of his ribs cracked under the pressure.

Maron cried in pain and Aurora said, "Please, scream all you want, no one is coming for you."

Over the next five minutes, Aurora broke 11 ribs, both his legs, 7 fingers and tore off two more, removed several of his toes and finally carved a large picture of a dead kraken on his chest.

After roughly 8 minutes, Maron gave up his struggle and was ready to talk.

"Now, I ask again," began Rhaegar, "why did you try to kill your own sister?"

"Because she was going to rat us out to you. Our grandfather has sent us here to kill you, so he could use the chaos afterwards to conquer the North, now that the Starks and most of the other Northmen have marched south."

"Who else were involved in this?"

"My grandfather, my father, and my uncles Euron and Aeron, my uncle Victarion refused to participate and threatened to warn you, so he was imprisoned at Pyke, along with our little brother Theon."

At that moment there came a knock on the door and Ser Barristan entered, followed by two gold cloaks who carried a limp body between them.

"Your Grace," Ser Barristan began, "We caught Rodrik Greyjoy as he attempted to sneak out of the Red Keep. But we were unable to take him alive. He killed two gold cloaks before I opened his chest."

Indeed, the corpse on the ground had been opened from stomach to collarbone and some of his guts were threatening to spill out.

Rhaegar nodded and turned back to Aurora and Gabrielle, "Deliver their heads to Pyke and bring back Victarion and Theon Greyjoy alive, kill every other Greyjoy you find. Do _whatever it takes,_ to bring the Iron Islands back under the Crown."

Aurora nodded grimly and Gabrielle followed her example while adding, "We'll say goodbye to the girls and leave immediately afterwards. We'll be back sometime tomorrow." They each took the body of one of the Greyjoy brothers, Aurora took Maron's after snapping his neck, and carried them out of the room.

They dropped them in a room next to the one where the children were brought, and said goodbye to the twins before taking the bodies to the black cells. There they removed their heads and put them in a sailcloth bag, which Aurora slung over her shoulder. They left the bodies in a large fireplace, which had been built for that purpose, judging by the various charred bones that were already in it.

In quick order they took two horses from the stables and rode to the Dragonpit in haste, where Gabrielle changed and flew off in the waning light of the early evening.

The journey to Pyke took them roughly an hour-and-a-half, and it was still light when they arrived. Deciding to scout around for a while and wait for the darkness before landing, they flew over the many islands that formed the domain of the Ironborn.

What they saw proved what Maron had said, it looked like the Ironborn were preparing for war. Every dock and harbor they saw was filled with longships and everywhere men and women alike were gathering and training. Forges were spitting black smoke into the late evening and carts laden with weapons, armor and supplies were moving toward the harbors.

So far Gabrielle had flown high enough to not be spotted by anyone on the ground but she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice, " _You wanne go and scare the shit out of them?_ "

Aurora grinned in reply and answered, _"You know me to well my love."_

With a mighty roar, Gabrielle started a dive and aimed straight for the city of Lordsport on the island of Pyke. Only a few hundred feet above the large town, she spread her wings and flew off towards the castle of Pyke. Cries of fear and surprise could be heard coming from all over the town and the castle.

It was dark enough for Gabrielle to safely land without being spotted from the castle and she landed a thousand feet away from the castle between a few cliffs. Quickly changing back in human form, Gabrielle helped Aurora to put away the saddle, and together they walked calmly toward the castle.

It was completely dark by the time they reached the walls and deciding to first secure Victarion and Theon, they used their daggers to climb the rough stones that formed the walls of Pyke.

Aurora was the first to reach the top and she carefully peaked over the battlements looking for any patrolling guards. The nearest one was a dozen feet away, with his back turned towards her and she softly climbed onto the wall.

She approached the man from behind and clapping her left hand over his mouth, she dragged him into the nearest tower to get him out of sight. As soon as she had him in the tower, Gabrielle appeared behind her with a second guard she had overtaken from the other side of the tower.

They put the men down besides each other against the wall, and each put a dagger to their throats. The men looked at them with clear fright in their eyes until Aurora growled, "Where are Victarion and Theon Greyjoy?"

One of them pissed himself before passing out, while the other's eyes went wide at the intimidating metallic voice and he stuttered, "T… t… top of the Bl… Bloody K… K… Keep."

"And which one would that be?" asked Gabrielle.

"S… second."

"Thank you," Gabrielle replied coldly before she slammed her right fist into his head, knocking him out cold. They bound and gagged both men before hiding them in a dark corner under a stair.

They crept their way onto the courtyard between the curtain wall and the gatehouse, and noticed that their stunt from before might not have been the best idea, as it looked like the entire garrison had been put on high alert. Dozens of men could be seen patrolling the battlements of the gatehouse and the keeps beyond.

Dozens if not hundreds of torches bathed the entire area in dim light and they had to perform a series of impressive acrobatics to stay undetected. They made their way into the interior of the gatehouse but were forced to take out a trio of guards who spotted them as they were about to cross the bridge to the first keep. The men were dumped in to sea with their throats cut open and they crept on.

All in all, they had to kill or incapacitate 16 Ironborn before they made it to the location the first guard had told them about.

They came to the top of a stairwell, and found two doors, both locked and with 2 armed guards standing before each of them.

They both drew two knifes from their boots and after standing up and aiming carefully, they threw them and the four men dropped to the ground, each with a knife protruding from their unprotected necks.

They quickly made their way over to the doors and while Gabrielle looked into the one on the right and saw a sleeping boy under a thick blanket, Aurora looked into the left one and came helmet to face with a large and powerful looking man.

"Who are you?" growled the man as he looked suspiciously at the helmet, which was all he could see between the bars in the door of his cell.

The only reply he received was a metallic, "Are you Victarion Greyjoy?"

The man nodded and Aurora took her axe from the holster on her back. "Step back," Aurora said before she hefted her axe and slammed it down on the lock keeping it closed. The lock shattered and the sound was followed by a second 'CLANG' as Gabrielle broke open the other door.

"Are you ready to become the new Lord of the Iron Islands?"

Aurora's question seemed to surprise Victarion, but he nodded none-the-less and said, "I am. But who are you and who sent you here?"

"We are here," Gabrielle said after she stood next to Aurora, "Because your nephew's blew their mission and tried to kill your niece when she tried to warn the king about your family's plans. We interrogated Maron, and he told us that you were held prisoner because you refused to cooperate with this plan, so the King send us here to make you the new Lord Reaper of Pyke."

Victarion nodded again and asked, "But how were you planning on doing that, there are nearly 400 Ironborn in this castle, and you are just two men."

They ignored his presumption of their gender and instead Aurora said, "You'll see, now I suggest you arm yourself, get something from those men outside, and then wake your nephew, we will take care of the rest."

Victarion did as she said and to their approval, they saw him dressing himself in the same style as they did themselves, full heavy armor. He was soon dressed in mail on boiled leather, topped by full plate which he scavenged together from the four corpses. Afterwards he strapped a sword to his waist before picking up two, hand-axes and sticking them into his belt.

He entered his nephew's room and woke him by shaking his shoulder. "Wake up Theon, you have to get dressed, we are leaving."

The boy yawned before looking at who woke him and muttered, "Uncle Victarion, how come you're free, did father release you?"

"No Theon, we are escaping, your sister has sent us help but hurry."

Theon quickly got out of bed and dressed himself in a simple tunic and breaches of rough grey wool. The boy quickly followed his uncle into the hall, where he stopped at the sight of Aurora and Gabrielle dragging the bodies of the guards they had killed into the other cell.

"Uncle, who… who are they?" Theon asked with hesitation and a little fear in his voice.

"I have no idea, but they are helping us so I don't really care." His uncle's answer seamed to reassure him a little and Theon quickly followed Victarion as he made his way down the stairs, after Aurora and Gabrielle who had already descended.

About halfway down, they could hear the clang of metal coming from below them and Victarion hurried down the stairs, with Theon on his heels.

They were just in time to see Aurora slam her spiked left fist into the face of an Ironborn, caving his head in and sending pieces of brain and bone in all directions, while shortly after cutting a second Ironborn in half with her massive battle axe which she wielded one-handed.

Further down the hallway Gabrielle was taking on three Ironborn who had each wielded a crossbow, but were in the process of drawing their swords. Before they could however, they were disemboweled by a horizontal swipe of Gabrielle's axe.

"They probably heard this struggle, so we better hurry. What is the fastest way to the great hall?"

At Gabrielle's question, Victarion took the lead and took them through a secret stair which ended just besides the bridge that led to the Great Keep, and they hurried across.

Making their way through the Great Keep, they stopped before the Great Hall and Aurora and Gabrielle turned towards Victarion and Theon. Gabrielle spoke, "You and Theon had better find a safe spot. I'm not sure what'll happen once we 'introduce' ourselves, but I'm pretty sure it'll be violent."

Victarion nodded and after he drew the two axes from his belt, he ushered Theon into a small side room, before barring the door behind them.

Aurora and Gabrielle turned back to the great doors, and Aurora kicked them open violently.

The loud noise coming from the great hall stopped immediately, and the roughly 50 men in the hall all looked at them. At the other end of the hall they saw the Seastone chair, in which sat a graying man who was still tall and his broad shoulders were encased in steel mail. This had to be Quellon Greyjoy.

On simple chairs at his feet sat three men, who they guessed were his sons, Balon, Euron and Aeron. On several long tables sat a little over two score men, all dressed for war with heavy mail or plate steel. Apparently a feast was being held, as the tables were laden with food and serving maids were spread around the hall, carrying large pitchers with ale and wine.

"WHO ARE YOU, AND HOW DARE YOU ENTER HERE UNINVITED!" The man on the Seastone chair roared through the silent hall.

Aurora and Gabrielle walked calmly into the hall and Gabrielle said, "We have been sent by the King, we have come to bring you his answer to your proposal which was presented by your grandsons."

At this the man sat back down and said in a calmer tone, "Well in that case, I bid you welcome on Pyke. I am Quellon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands. What answer does the king give?"

Aurora spoke next and asked, "May we approach?"

Quellon nodded in permission and Aurora and Gabrielle walked between the middle two tables until they stood before the four Greyjoy's and Aurora took the sailcloth bag from her shoulder. She pulled the two severed heads from the bag and threw them at Balon's feet.

"They failed," Aurora said calmly to the silent hall, until Quellon jumped up and yelled,

"KILL THEM!"

All of the men jumped up from their seats at the tables and came charging towards Aurora and Gabrielle who had both drawn their battle axes and now stood back to back in front of the Seastone chair.

Aurora faced the hall while Gabrielle kept an eye on the Greyjoy's. The first to jump up was Balon, who promptly received the back spike of Gabrielle's axe in his chest, instantly killing the heir to the Iron Islands. Gabrielle drew the axe back and tore his chest open before bringing it down on Aeron's head, splitting it in two.

Meanwhile Aurora was dispatching one Ironborn after the other, as their steel swords and axes, though they were of excellent quality, were no match against the heavy Dragonforged battle axe. Swords broke and axe-shafts splintered under the godlike strength with which Aurora wielded her weapon.

Euron was the next Greyjoy to die, when he tried to flee and Gabrielle hit him in the back with a dagger. He dropped dead with the blade buried in his spine. Quellon looked with wide-eyes as his sons had been killed without any apparent effort and below the lords of the Iron islands were being slaughtered one after the other.

When the last of the lords, a fat man with a large scar across his forehead, died as Aurora tore away half his face with the butt of her axe, Quellon stood up and said softly, "Who are you?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a look, though even they couldn't see the other's face through their helmet, before they revealed their faces.

When Lord Quellon saw that they were women he muttered, "Impossible," before standing up from his throne and drawing the two swords he carried on his hips.

With unspoken consent, Gabrielle retreated and Aurora stepped forward to face the Lord Reaper of Pyke, her axe handed to Gabrielle and her two hand-and-a-half swords spinning around in her hands. "Let's dance Motherfucker," she mocked as the aging lord lunged at her with his swords spread out.

The Lord of the Iron Islands had nothing to lose anymore, and that showed itself in the way he fought, reckless and with a fury few living men could match, yet with great skill and ferocious determination.

Aurora had to admit that he proved to be a worthy opponent despite his age, he was still strong and a much better fighter than Robert Baratheon who, like she did herself, relied more upon his great strength. Quellon's swords swung here and there and more than once, Aurora was forced to dive when one of his swords lunged past her defenses and nearly hit her in the unprotected head.

"Impressive," Aurora said with a little respect clearly noticeable in her voice. "You are by far the best opponent I have faced in the last century or so. Don't take this too hard, you fought honorably." And with those words, Aurora's left sword slipped past Quellon's defenses and took him in the gut, going straight through his stomach and out of his back.

Quellon's face went grey and blood started to spill from his open mouth while he muttered, "What is dead may never die." His eyes closed themselves and his face took on a look that showed peace with his fate, while his swords slipped from his hands and landed on the stone floor with two clangs.

Aurora lowered the body to the floor before removing her sword from the late lord's gut. "He was good," she muttered and she and Gabrielle stood side-by-side looking down on the fallen lord, until a sound from the entrance drew their attention.

"Drowned God take me," Victarion's voice broke the deathly silence that had fallen in the great hall as he and Theon looked wide-eyed at the slaughter that Aurora and Gabrielle had committed.

Theon slipped past his uncle and ran towards the front while yelling, "FATHER."

Aurora and Gabrielle felt a little guilty, when the young boy knelt down besides the blood drenched corpse of a father who would now never see him grow up.

"Father, father, father, wake up," the boy sobbed until Victarion came running and took him in his arms.

"Shsst lad, it's going to be all right. Your father is with the Drowned God now. He, your grandfather, your uncles and your brothers have been called to him. And now they feast in his watery halls, served by the most beautiful mermaids."

"Then I want to go to them." Theon sobbed into his uncle's shoulder.

"Don't say such things lad, when your time comes you'll see them again, but that is many years from now. Now you have a big sister to protect, so you'll have to be strong for her, can you do that?"

Theon nodded while sniffing away a few tears and Victarion gave him a soft smile before he said, "That's a good lad, now, come on we have other things to do, let's get you to your mother."

Theon nodded again while drying his tears on his sleeve and Victarion accompanied him out of the hall after saying, "I'll be back in a few minutes, his mother should be on the floor above this one. If you were serious about making me Lord of the Iron Islands, then you should gather the heads of everyone you have slain here, we'll need them to convince the Kingsmoot."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded calmly before Aurora received her axe back from Gabrielle and the duo began their grim task.

When they were about done, wondering if they should also take the ruined mass of bone and brains of the man whose skull Aurora had destroyed, when a soft cry was heard and a body fell down in front of the doors of the hall.

Aurora and Gabrielle sprinted out the doors towards the weakly moving body and they saw it was a woman. They were just in time to hear her mutter her last words. "I'll not live in a land where that man becomes king, he betrayed us all by joining that white haired bastard from the south."

A mere two minutes later, Victarion came running towards them with behind him a young woman who held Theon in her arms. When he stopped before them, Gabrielle asked, "What happened?"

"She jumped," was Victarion's explanation. When Gabrielle looked at him with one raised eyebrow, he explained, "When I told her that Balon, Rodrik and Maron were dead, and that I would join the King, she began yelling about me being a traitor and jumped from a balcony."

"Great," both Aurora and Gabrielle muttered at the same time. Now they had another concern, who would raise Theon and Yara now that both their parents were dead.

They used the rest of the night to prepare for Victarion's attempt to win the crown. They kept the massacre silent by executing everyone who refused to bow to Victarion and accept him as their new Lord.

At daybreak, Victarion ordered the Ironborn to ring the great bell in the gatehouse, a signal for all the lords and captains to gather. It took more than two hours for all the captains to assemble, their number being well over 700, one for each ship in the massive Iron Fleet.

They gathered before the walls of Pyke, and when all were present, Victarion stepped from under the gates and ascended a dais that had been placed there. He was once again dressed in his own armor, leather backed mail covered by heavy plate steel with a golden kraken emblazoned on the chest, and in his hand he held his great battle axe, which was nearly as large as those wielded by Aurora and Gabrielle.

"MEN OF THE IRON ISLANDS, HEAR MY WORDS." When he had their attention he continued on a normal, but still clearly audible tone, "You all know me, I am Victarion Greyjoy, third son of Quellon Greyjoy and Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet.

What you may not know is that for the last four months, I have been held prisoner by my father and my brothers. I was a prisoner because I openly refused to aid them in this foolhardy plan of theirs to conquer The North. I'll tell you now as I told them.

We can never again take back the lands we lost when the Targaryans drove us from the mainland. We do not have the men and we do not have the weapons to do so. We are too few compared to them. Right now, the royal army is over 120,000 men strong, we don't stand a chance.

They refused to listen and instead send Rodrik and Maron Greyjoy to try to assassinate the King. Last night, the King sent his answer." At those words both Aurora and Gabrielle stepped out from under the gate and joined Victarion on the dais. Both wore their helmets, and they each carried an 8-foot spear. On the spears were placed, one above the other, the heads of Quellon, Balon, Euron, Aeron, Rodrik, and Maron.

They stabbed the spears in the ground so they were clearly visible for all to see, while behind them a dozen Ironborn came carrying other spears with the heads of the lords that had been slain in the night. They placed the spears in a half circle around the dais before retreating back into the gatehouse.

"In the name of King Rhaegar, First of his Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, I, Victarion Greyjoy, hereby claim the Seastone chair. Like Urron Redhand did thousands of years ago, I pay with the Iron Price."

A loud rumor burst out at Victarion's words until Aurora stepped forward and removed her helmet. It was silent in moments, none of the Ironborn had ever beholden someone like her and they were instantly enthralled by what she said.

"My name is Aurora, I am one of the champions of King Rhaegar, and unlike the king, I kind of like your way of life. Here is my proposal for all of you. The Iron Islands are barren, not much grows here and the land cannot feed you all. The Old Way saw to your needs in the past, and why shouldn't it continue to do so… we just need to find the right target."

Her words were clearly well received as cheers and applause could be heard in the early morning wind. "If you accept Victarion as your new Lord, and then follow me and my wife," at this she motioned towards Gabrielle who went to stand besides her and also removed her helmet. "We will lead you to conquer the Stepstones, and then on to the ruins of Old Valyria. From there, all of Essos is within our reach and as they say, 'The Gold comes from the East'.

Follow us, and we will ensure that those who stay behind will receive food and supplies from the crown in exchange for the support on our expedition.

Follow us, and all of you will be rich beyond your dreams.

Follow us, and soon the Kraken Sails will be feared around the world, as they were before and as they should be."

It was quit for a few seconds until Victarion stepped forward and spoke loudly, "I accept," before grasping his battle axe in his right hand and raising it into the sky before yelling, "WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE."

In an instant, every man and women who stood before them drew their weapons, be they swords, axes, maces, or daggers, struck them into the sky and yelled as one,

"WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE."

As the crowd kept chanting, Victarion turned to Aurora and Gabrielle and said, "And now you have your army, use it wisely."

Aurora gave him a grin and muttered, "Oh don't worry about that, _we will_. But now that this is dealt with, we need to get you and Theon to King's Landing, the king was rather insistent that we bring you back with us. Is there anyone still alive that has both the trust of the Ironborn, and has your trust to do as you command?"

Victarion thought for a few minutes, counting men on his fingers but discarding most on account of them being recently deceased, until he nodded and said loudly to the gathered captains, who were waiting silently for orders. "DAGMER CLEFTJAW."

From amongst the midst of the crowd, a man who looked to be in his early forties stepped forward. He had graying hair that hung till his shoulders and a middle sized beard framed his jaw. The most distinctive feature he had, which was no doubt the source of his nickname, was a large scar that went from his left cheek, across his mouth and ended on his chin.

The man kneeled and said, "My Lord."

Victarion nodded to the man and motioned for him to rise before saying, "Dagmer Cleftjaw, you are the most experienced raider I know, you are a fearsome warrior and above all, the men trust your judgment. So I hereby give you temporary command of the Iron Fleet. Gather all those who wish to join the ladies on this adventure, and have them sail to the mouth of the Greenblood. There they shall await you, and from there on, you will answer to them."

Dagmer bowed again and said, "By your will, my Lord." He turned around and went to see to his orders.

Not long after the crowd dispersed as many went back to their ships to sail home and talk with their families. This would be an adventure none of the Ironborn had ever undertaken, and it would require much preparation to reach a favorable outcome.

Victarion went back to the keep while Aurora and Gabrielle went away to send word to King's Landing and to 'saddle their dragons'.

Half an hour later, Aurora was once again seated on Gabrielle's back as she descended on the great castle of Pyke. Unlike the previous day, this time she landed before the gatehouse where Victarion and Theon were waiting for them, along with a young woman who Victarion had chosen to care for his nephew.

Theon and the girl, whose name they learned was Gwendolyn, or Gwen for short, both looked up in awe at the massive dragon that stood before them, while Victarion stood shell-shocked. Aurora and Gabrielle had told him about the dragons, but he had not expected it possible that they were this big.

When the rope was lowered from the saddle, Victarion was the first to climb on, followed by Theon and finally by Gwen. Aurora helped them to strap in, while she told Victarion, "Gabrielle has already left for King's Landing to inform the king of our success here."

The newly named Lord of the Iron Islands just nodded, fearful of the beast he was currently seated upon. Aurora noticed his fear and said with a smile, "Don't worry, you are currently seated on the safest seat in the entire world, she'll never drop you."

Being only slightly reassured by these words, Victarion gripped the handles next to him on the saddle when Gabrielle launched herself into the air. Behind him Theon, and to a lesser extend Gwen, were both cheering when the adrenaline coursed through their bodies.

The journey to the capital took them only about an hour, much faster than their journey to Pyke thanks to the fact that Gabrielle now had the wind in her back, instead of against her. However, for the second time, when they saw the city in the distance, thick black smoke clouds were rising from the city.


	11. Chapter 11

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 11

 _The journey to the capital took them only about an hour much faster than their journey to Pyke thanks to the fact that Gabrielle now had the wind in her back, instead of against her. However, for the second time, when they saw the city in the distance, thick black smoke clouds were rising from the city._

Gabrielle pushed out a speed burst in fear for the twins and their new friends and when they were closer, they could see large smoke clouds were coming from the harbor, all the docks and many of the vessels moored on it were nothing more than burned shells, while further in the bay, a poultry few dozen heavily damaged ships were all that remained of the Royal Fleet.

Smaller smoke clouds were rising from the Red Keep, large parts of which were blackened by fire or were still burning.

When Gabrielle landed, the entire keep shook with the force of the impact, and when Aurora and her other passengers had dismounted, she changed back to human form, ignoring the cries of surprise and shock in favor of worrying about their daughters.

Together they stormed into the keep, using their powers to put out the many fires that were still burning all around them until they reached the throne room. They saw a scene that reminded them of the sack, corpses lay everywhere, most were of servants and nobles, judging by their clothing, but a few dozen gold cloaks lay between them as well as nearly fifty men in unknown heavy bronze armor and armed with heavy spears and short swords.

Before the Iron Throne they could see a quartet of familiar silver blond hair, and Aurora yelled through the otherwise silent room, "SILVANA, LISSENA."

Two of the silver haired people jumped up and came running towards them, both with tears running over their faces as they crashed into Aurora and Gabrielle and cried, "MOM!"

The twins were enveloped in a tight group hug until Rhaegar and Lyanna reached them. Lyanna was unharmed, but Rhaegar was shirtless and his chest was marred by a dozen deep cuts and he carried a large sword which was dripping with blood and which they recognized as Brightroar.

Aurora turned to Rhaegar and asked softly, "What happened here?"

"We were attacked," Rhaegar stated the obvious but elaborated as he saw the looks that Aurora and Gabrielle were throwing at him. "Last night around midnight the city was woken by a chorus of roars. They sounded remarkably like you two, so everyone thought you had returned. When we went outside, we saw at least a dozen of them, _dragons._ "

At their disbelieving looks Rhaegar added, "Not as big as you two, it'd say about a third in size, but all had riders and that was not all. Dozens of ships had landed beneath the walls of the keep and hundreds of soldiers were using grappling hooks to climb the walls. They took us entirely by surprise."

Aurora softly released her arms from around Silvana's shoulder, who was still clinging tightly to her middle, and pulled off her right gauntlet before holding her bare hand out to Rhaegar. "Show me."

Rhaegar took a deep breath before he grasped her hand and instantly Aurora saw what he had seen the night before.

 _He and Lyanna had just retired to their rooms when they heard a loud roar come from the direction of Blackwater Bay and they quickly rushed to the nearest window, wondering why Aurora and Gabrielle had returned so soon._

 _When Rhaegar opened the window, both he and Lyanna gasped in shock. A dozen large beasts were flying over the harbor, burning every ship moored there. At the same time sounds of clashing metal and cries of pain were heard in the courtyard below them._

 _The door to their chambers was opened in a hurry and Rhaella came running in, followed by the twins. To Rhaegar's surprise, his mother was holding a large Valyrian steel greatsword. Without explanation, Rhaella pressed the sword in his hands and told him, "Defend your people, let them see you fighting for them."_

 _Without a question, Rhaegar accepted the sword, and ran out of the room, after giving Lyanna a desperate kiss._

 _In the hall he was joined by Ser Barristan and Ser Gerold, who had been guarding his door, and on the way towards the gates, they were joined by the Sers, Oswell, Arthur and Jonothor. Prince Lewyn had been given leave to stay with his family during their stay so he had been in a different part of the keep_

 _When they reached the throne room they were met by dozens upon dozens of people, nobles, servants and soldiers. "EVERYONE WHO CAN HOLD A SWORD, COME WITH ME." Rhaegar yelled through the room and all of the soldiers, along with a few of the nobles rushed to follow their new king._

 _Now with maybe fifty men at his back, Rhaegar reached the gates and_ _in_ _the courtyard they were met by a true battle. He saw Eddard Stark, swinging his massive greatsword Ice, Hoster Tully and Jon Arryn were fighting back to back with Brynden Tully and Galbart Glover. In the distance he saw the Greatjon with his personal guard, who were fighting with their large two-handed swords and carving a bloody path towards Eddard Stark._

 _The enemy they were fighting_ _was_ _unfamiliar to Rhaegar. They all wore the same heavy bronze cuirasses, with greaves and vambraces of the same material. All of them wore thick linen clothing beneath it and they carried large round shields and a variety of steel weapons. He saw maces, axes and swords, but most carried simple spears which they used with great efficiency._

 _Without a warning, Rhaegar crashed into the back of a large group of enemies and hacked two to pieces before the others could react. With his Kingsguard besides him, Rhaegar fought his way through the courtyard, linking up with the many groups of his own people, until they formed a single united front that pushed the still unknown enemy back and cornered them against a wall._

" _WE NEED PRISONERS." Rhaegar yelled at the top of his lungs, "KEEP A FEW OF THEM ALIVE."_

 _At that moment a large explosion was heard and a crater was blown in the side of the hill beneath them, opening the black cells to the night air and when he ran to a gate, he could see three familiar blondes running towards one of the dragons that had landed to pick them up._

 _As soon as the Lannisters were on board, the beast flew off and once they were well over the waters of Blackwater Bay, a horn was sounded and the other beasts also flew off, while those of the attackers who could, fled back to their boats."_

 _Suddenly cries of pain and panic could be heard from within the Red Keep and Rhaegar quickly hurried inside, with the rest of the men behind him._

 _When they reached the throne room they saw more than two score of the bronze armored enemies fighting with a few dozen gold cloaks while many of the_ _servant_ _s and nobles lay slain on the floor._

 _The ensuing battle was brutal, as the unknown enemies fought ferociously knowing they had_ _nowhere_ _to go, and so they wanted to make as many casualties as they could before they were slain themselves._

When Aurora came out of the memory, she asked Rhaegar, "How long ago did they flee?"

"A few hours before dawn, on dragon back you can probably catch up to those who fled by ship."

Aurora nodded but Gabrielle asked, "Who was lost Rhaegar?" she had seen the pain in his eyes.

Rhaegar sniffed once before he said, "A few dozen lords, amongst them, Hoster Tully and Ser Jonothor."

Aurora extended her hand to him and said, "Then let's go avenge them."

Rhaegar nodded and they hurried outside, where the saddle Gabrielle had worn still lay.

With Rhaegar's help, Aurora quickly saddled Gabrielle, they no longer cared if anyone saw them, as the secret was out anyway when dozens had seen them land and witnessed as Gabrielle changed from dragon to human.

When the saddle was secure, Rhaegar climbed on with Ser Barristan and Ser Oswell behind him. They all strapped themselves in and when they were secured, Aurora changed as well and the two dragons flew up in the sky and out towards the mouth of Blackwater Bay.

It took them a few hours to find the small fleet of the attackers. Eleven of the great beasts were flying above the ships, but even with their great eyesight, they didn't see the three Lannisters anywhere, so they assumed that the twelfth beast had flown off with its passengers, while the others stayed behind to cover their fleet.

The ships numbered 34 in total, all sleek black ships, built for speed with shallow hulls and great sails, each of the sails bore the image of a harpy with two crossed thunderbolts in it claws.

"GHISCARI," they could hear Rhaegar yell but at that moment the enemy had spotted them.

The beasts came flying towards them and now in clear daylight, Rhaegar saw that they were not dragons at all. The beasts had the rough shape of a dragon but that was all. Instead of four legs, they had only two, and they had no scales but a thick leathery hide. Their wings were relatively longer and shallower than those of Aurora and Gabrielle and they all had some weird contraption of tubes and bladders running from their backs to their mouths.

One of the beasts roared and a blast of fire came from the endings of the tubes, which were next to the joint of its jaws.

"Wyverns." Rhaegar hissed, but it was all he could say, as suddenly Gabrielle flapped her wings forward and turned around, as Aurora flew straight towards the wyverns. Gabrielle turned again but started to circle around the approaching wyverns and approached the ships that were fleeing desperately.

Rhaegar looked on in awe as he saw Aurora clash with the wyverns. They were fairly evenly matched as a whole, but once Aurora closed with one of them, it was over for that one. The wyverns had the advantage of numbers and speed. Aurora had size, strength and firepower.

The first wyvern to get in her reach was grabbed by the neck with her great jaws and with a sickening crunch, the jaws closed, killing the beast instantly and letting its rider fall down with the corpse, for thousands of feet.

The others tried blasting her with fire, but unlike real dragons, the wyverns were equipped with some sort of fire throwing device. The regular fire they spit out didn't even tickle her, but when Aurora opened her jaws and spewed forth a great column of blood red fire, it caught four of them and the devices on their backs exploded. Great chunks of their bodies were ripped off by the explosions and the blasts caught another one which was hit by a piece of bronze pipe, which hit it in the side and apparently reached its heart as it fell out of the sky, unmoving.

By now the others were fleeing but Gabrielle cut them off. With Rhaegar and the other two clinging to the saddle, Gabrielle dropped down from above and caught the first two, one by the leg in her jaws and the other by its neck and chest with her two front claws. She tore the one in her claws to pieces, before bringing her head down and grabbed the other, by its neck with her jaws while she held its torso with her claws. With a jerk of her neck she tore the neck off of the beast, ripping half its spine out with it.

The remaining three were now caught between Aurora and Gabrielle, who were quickly approaching them. Aurora caught another one with a great blast of fire, while Gabrielle torched a second. The last one they trapped between them and Aurora tore off one of its wings before cauterizing the stump with fire while Gabrielle held the beast between her claws. One around its head, two around its body and the fourth plucked the rider out of the saddle.

Aurora fled down towards the ships and in a single pass, she torched the lot of them, letting the fire claim everyone on them and sinking them one by one.

As Aurora came flying back to them, Gabrielle dropped the wyvern she was carrying, but held onto the rider. Aurora dived down and caught the wyvern between her might claws, carrying it all the way back to the Red Keep.

On the flight the wyvern tried to escape from Aurora's clutches, but her claws were too strong and when it tried to bathe her in flames, Aurora put a choke hold around its throat until it died from lack of oxygen.

As they approached the Red Keep, it was early in the evening and when Aurora dropped the great carcass in the courtyard, she changed back to her human form and took the captured rider as Gabrielle released him.

As soon as she handed the rider to Ser Barristan and Ser Oswell, Aurora removed the saddle from Gabriele with the help of Rhaegar and Gabrielle likewise turned back to her human form.

They tried to talk to the man, but he didn't understand them and they didn't understand him, so finally Aurora placed her bare hands on the man's head and dove into his memories.

When she had gained everything that was useful, she snapped the man's neck and turned to Rhaegar, "We have a serious problem."

Rhaegar's only response was to nod and motion for Aurora and Gabrielle to follow him. He asked a passing guard, "Where are the Lords, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn and Doran and Oberyn Martell?"

The guard thought for a moment until he said, "The Lords Stark and Arryn were in the throne room when last I saw them, but Prince Doran was injured in the fighting so he and Prince Oberyn are most likely in the Sept where the maesters are tending the wounded."

"Please inform the Lords Stark and Arryn that I want to talk to them in the Sept as soon as possible, also find Ser Gerold, my mother and my wife, and tell them to meet us there." The man bowed and hurried off to follow his orders, while Rhaegar led his party to the Sept.

When they arrived at the Sept they saw dozens of nobles and commoners alike being treated equally by the maesters. It had been an order from Rhaella who they found running the make shift hospital with the twins helping her.

Silvana and Lissena were running around the room bringing bandages and medicines to the maesters as they requested them, while Rhaella used her own limited skills to help where she could.

They found Oberyn and Lewyn next to a bed on which lay Doran. The Lord of Dorne was unconscious and he didn't look well. Gabrielle quickly kneeled down next to the bed on which Doran had been placed with his chest against the mattress. She folded back the blanket that covered him and saw a large bandage covering the bottom of his back.

She cut open the bandages and muttered soft curses as she inspected the handiwork of a maester. Turning to Oberyn she said, "Right now your brother will be paralyzed for the rest of his life, do as I say, and he might retain his ability to walk though he will never be the man he was."

Oberyn shot up and asked quickly, "What do you need?"

Gabrielle looked around and said, "A lot of milk of the poppy, clean bandages and hot water."

As Oberyn ran off Gabrielle turned to the others and said, "I will be of more use here, you should go and make plans, I'll stay in contact through Aurora."

The others nodded, though only Aurora and Rhaegar knew what she was talking about, and they made their way to the side of the Sept, where they waited for Eddard, Jon and Lyanna.

Soon Oberyn joined them after Gabrielle had sent him away, and shortly after they were joined by Eddard and Jon. Lyanna and Ser Gerold were the last to arrive and when they had Rhaegar led them to a secluded room where no one could overhear them.

Rhaegar turned to Aurora as soon as the door was closed and asked, "Okay what is the problem you spoke about."

Aurora led out a deep sigh before she began. "The man we captured was actually the leader of the army that attacked us. His name was Zordaq and he was the youngest brother of the emperor of New Ghis.

They came for Tywin Lannister and his children. Apparently Tywin secretly made contact with the empire of New Ghis, after the mad king refused to allow a marriage between Cersei and you, Rhaegar. Tywin was promised a marriage between Cersei and the emperor, and safe haven, if he took command of the Ghiscari armies and led them during their conquest of Essos.

The wyverns we slew were the only ones they had, it was an experimental weapon to be used during their conquest, but since we slew them all save one, that plan will be severely delayed until they can capture and train new wyverns.

The only good news I have pulled from his mind is that the Ghiscari are far from ready to wage a war on us. They have the men to carry out an invasion, but they lack proper weaponry and tactics to have a chance of success should they invade. This is where Tywin Lannister comes in, as despite his many faults, the man is a brilliant strategist and could really pose a threat should he gain control of the Ghiscari armies."

They let this sink in until Rhaegar asked Aurora, "What can we do? We don't have the manpower to invade them either. We can't risk open war with Essos, and we can't let him do as he wants either."

Now Aurora managed a small smile and replied, "I think I have a solution for that. I kind of went overboard on the Iron Islands and called them all to war for an expedition to first conquer the Stepstones, and then to travel on to the ruins of Valyria. If we can find the Forges of Valyria, we'll have everything we need to make our own Valyrian Steel.

With that steel we can build ourselves an army no one can stand against, not even Tywin Lannister. All I need from you is your permission to call for volunteers to hunt down Tywin in any way I deem necessary.

However, if we are to be successful I will have to do things you are not going to like. First off all, I'll need to go to Astapor and buy every single unsullied I can find. We cannot risk them falling into the hands of New Ghis. I'll free them and employ them as free men, but I need to get control of them before the Ghiscari can.

Furthermore, I'll have to do some 'creative business' with the sellsword companies, including the Golden Company, if I can offer them a royal pardon, I expect they'll willingly join me."

Rhaegar looked at her with an ashen face and he asked softly, "You want me to give you permission to deal with some of our oldest enemies and to give them a royal pardon to boot. The Golden Company has fought against my family for over seventy years."

"Don't be so appalled Rhaegar," Rhaella scolded her son, "I am the one who told her about the Golden Company and the Unsullied. I happen to trust Aurora and Gabrielle, and I believe they know what they are doing and that it is truly necessary if we are to be successful."

Rhaegar slowly shook his head until Lyanna put her hands on his face and forced him to look her in the eyes. "In your heart you know the answer my love, listen to it."

Rhaegar's face softened a little and when he finally looked up from his wife's eyes, he turned to Aurora and said, "Do what you have to do, but don't tell me about it. I do not want to know what horrors you'll be unleashing, but I ask that you hold in mind that whatever you do, will reflect on me and on all of the Seven Kingdoms."

Aurora nodded once and turned to Eddard and Jon, "Please spread the word amongst the armies that I'll take any volunteer who wants to help me hunt down Tywin Lannister. They must be brave men who understand the risks and who go willingly. Tell them it is likely that more than a few will not come home, but they'll be fighting to finally bring a lasting peace to this world."

The two lords nodded in acceptance while Aurora turned to Rhaegar, "Please spread the word amongst the people of the city. I'll be needing craftsmen and a lot of them, mainly blacksmiths, carpenters, shipwrights and fletchers, but also miners, masons, farmers and fishermen. Everyone who could be useful in building a new city, as that is what we'll be doing when we reach the ruins of Valyria."

Rhaegar also nodded in acceptance and Oberyn was the next to speak up. "I did not understand most of what you are planning, but I know this. The man who ordered the murder of my sister is once again free and now he has very powerful allies, so I will join you personally in your quest to hunt him down. All I ask is that you give Tywin to me should we capture him. I want that monster to feel true pain before he dies.

My sister was very well loved in Dorne. I believe many will volunteer to accompany you, I think it is safe to say that I can bring you 5,000 Dornish spears and the ships to carry them."

Aurora looked Oberyn straight in the eye and she could see an iron determination behind his black eyes and she nodded, "It would be a privilege to fight besides you Prince Oberyn, I am sure there is much we could learn from each other, if you can keep your hands off of my wife."

That last sentence drew a chuckle from the others and Oberyn blushed a little but they were soon brought back to the seriousness of the situation by Rhaella. "Good, now when that is taken care of, I have a further point that came to my mind when I thought about our conversation at Dragonstone."

The queen turned to Eddard and asked, "Lord Stark, do you know how many wildlings there are north of the Wall?"

Eddard was surprised by the question but after giving it some thought, he shook his head and replied, "I am not sure Your Grace. But at the very least many tens-of-thousands, perhaps even several hundred-thousand."

Rhaella nodded before asking, "How many men could live in The North, and how many are actually living there?"

Despite his obvious confusion as to the point of these questions Eddard responded, "I do not know the exact number of people who live in The North, but there are fast tracks of land that are uninhabited, but which could support hundreds-of-thousands."

Apparently this was exactly what Rhaella wanted to hear and she replied, "That is very good. Now I have a question for all of you. When the Long night comes, and the white walkers attack the Wall with their armies of undead, do you want them to have an additional hundreds-of-thousands of soldiers."

Now the point was driven home in all their minds, but it was not easily accepted.

Eddard said, "I do not think that the Northern lords will like this Your Grace, we have been fighting the wildlings for thousands of years and then to suddenly ask them to accept them into their lands…."

"Eddard is right," Jon added, "But if what the Queen says is true, and the Long Night is indeed returning, then we don't have a choice. The wildlings are very numerous, and I would rather have them on our side of the wall fighting for us, than on the other side fighting against us. I think the greatest difficulty will be to get them to accept the necessity of their migration to south of the Wall. They have lived in freedom for thousands of years, and on our side they will be forced to adjust themselves to our way of live."

Each of the lords gave their opinion but most agreed with Jon, the Northern lords wouldn't like it, but it would be far better to have the wildlings on their side of the Wall.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with discussing the specifics of Aurora and Gabrielle's expedition, and they agreed that Eddard would contact the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch and have him send out envoys to all the known tribes of the wildlings.

When their discussions were done, they returned to the Sept and found it turned into a well run hospital, under the direction of Gabrielle, who had been more than a little irritated at some of the maesters' more ridiculous healing methods and now the wounded were treated properly and many had a much bigger chance of survival now that they received proper care.

Gabrielle joined them on their way out, after giving the maesters some last instructions and reprimands. The twins likewise joined them and Silvana went to walk next to Aurora, from whom she received an arm around her shoulders that pressed her against her mother, while Lissena received a similar treatment from Gabrielle.

When they had made their way to the throne room Rhaegar sighed, "This was supposed to be a joyous day, but it seems that fate does not agree with us."

"Fuck fate," Aurora growled. "She does not decide what we do. One of the most important things about being human is to have free will, which is also why we abhor slavery, and I'll be damned if we let today's activities be overshadowed by what happened in the dark of night."

"I agree," said Rhaella. "We should continue with the coronation, but we'll keep the festivities to a minimum. It will be good for morale to have a new and strong leader on the throne."

Rhaegar accepted his mother's council and so a few hours later, the remaining nobles, guild leaders, foreign ambassadors and other important people were gathered in the hastily cleaned throne room.

The ceremony was rather sober, no garlands or banners decorated the great hall, nor was there any form of boot-licking or the like. On the dais, Rhaella sat on the Iron Throne, while Rhaegar and Lyanna stood on the right, and Aurora and Gabrielle stood on the left.

Rhaegar wore his elegantly decorated armor, and Lyanna wore a dress of pure white silk, decorated with pearls in beautiful motifs and over it a thick grey wolf cloak to underline her heritage as a Stark of Winterfell.

Before the coronation, Rhaella had told Rhaegar and Lyanna about what they had found in the treasury at Dragonstone, and both had picked a crown that they liked. Rhaegar chose one made of Valyrian steel, with seven clear rubies set around it. Lyanna had picked a relatively simple tiara, also of Valyrian steel, with a single large brilliantly cut diamond set at the front.

Now that the time had come, Rhaella rose from the Iron Throne and knelt before Aurora and Gabrielle. While Gabrielle carefully took the simple band of unadorned gold from Rhaella's head, Aurora said, "For 21 years, you have served this realm to the utmost extent of your abilities, but now the time has come for you to step down and to let others take upon them the responsibility of ruling the Seven Kingdoms."

When Aurora said, "Rise Rhaella, Princess of Dragonstone," Rhaella stood up and stepped aside before joining the Lords of the Great Houses who stood on the other side of where Aurora and Gabrielle had stood. The only Lords Paramount who were still in position were, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, Stannis Baratheon and Victarion Greyjoy.

The others were all acting Lords or temporary wardens, Paxter Redwyne, Randyll Tarly, Brynden Tully (who was named acting Lord of the Riverlands until his nephew Edmure came of age), and Oberyn Martell (who stood in his brother's stead as Doran was still asleep under the influence of the milk of the poppy Gabrielle had given him).

When Rhaella had taken her new position, Aurora spoke, "Who now claims the Iron Throne?"

Rhaegar stepped forward and said, "I, Rhaegar, of the House Targaryan, Crown Prince of the realm and only surviving heir of the late King Aerys and Queen Rhaella of House Targaryan."

Aurora nodded and then turning to the assembled mass she asked, "Does anyone have valid reason to object to this claim?" She waited for a minute before she continued and said.

"Then kneel, Rhaegar, of the House Targaryan." Rhaegar did as she said and after Gabrielle took the crown Rhaegar had chosen from a cushion that was held by Rhaenys and handed it to her wife, Aurora placed the crown on Rhaegar's head and said,

"Then by the grace of The Old Gods and the New, I herby crown you, Rhaegar Targaryan, First of Your Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm."

When Aurora let go of the crown, Rhaegar stood up and seated himself on the Iron Throne. When he sat Aurora once again spoke to the entire throne room and said, "Long may he reign."

"LONG MAY HE REIGN." The entire hall echoed her words.

Next Rhaegar rose again and spoke, "As my Queen, I choose my wife, Lady Lyanna, of the House Stark." Lyanna went to stand next to her husband and knelt. Aurora took the tiara Lyanna had chosen from the cushion where it had lain next to Rhaegar's crown and handed it to the King, who then placed it gently on the head of his Queen.

When Lyanna rose, Rhaegar took her hand and helped her to sit down on the throne. As she sat down, her dress split open, as was intentional, and the whole hall could clearly see the evidence that a new heir was already on the way.


	12. Chapter 12

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 12

The day after the coronation was the day for the trials to begin. Originally it was planned that the Lannisters would be going first, but since three of the four had been broken out of prison, Tyrion was the only remaining Lannister who stood trial.

They had chosen the throne room to act as the court room, as it was the most spacious. Long benches had been placed on the floor before the throne, with roughly 20 feet between the dais and the first row of benches. In the open space, exactly in front of the Iron Throne, was a wooden lectern with a chair. The ones to stand trial would be placed on that chair during their trial.

On either side of the Iron Throne were padded chairs, five on each side. On the right side were seated in order, Lyanna, Eddard, Jon, Oberyn and Randyll. And on the left, were seated, Rhaella, Paxter, Stannis, Brynden and Victarion. Rhaegar sat on the Iron Throne and Aurora and Gabrielle were seated on heavy wooden seats on the middle of the dais, before and below the throne.

The chairs for Aurora and Gabrielle were heavier than the others, because when Aurora had sat herself down in a normal one, it splintered under the combined weight of her, her armor and her weapons.

The five remaining members of the Kingsguard were arrayed before the dais with Lord Commander Gerold Hightower in the middle and the others on either side of him.

When everyone was seated, Tyrion was brought in by a pair of gold cloaks and stood before the lectern.

His was one of the easier trials, as Tyrion had committed no crime and he was only placed under arrest because of him being a Lannister. So as soon as Tyrion stood before him, Rhaegar stood up and spoke,

"Tyrion Lannister, you have committed no crime against the crown, and are not held responsible for the crimes of your family. It is commonly known that both your father and your sister held you accountable for the death of your mother, and you have suffered much at their hands. This council has come to the following decision regarding your future.

You are hereby named Heir of Casterly Rock and Future Warden of the West. Until you are old and wise enough to hold these positions, they will be held by Lord Paxter Redwyne, who will also take care of the education you shall need to properly execute your duties when the time comes."

Tyrion bowed deeply and said, "I thank you for your generosity Your Grace and I would like to wish the best of luck to those who are going to hunt down my treacherous family."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in thanks and Tyrion's shackles were removed before he was led to a chair that stood before Lord Paxter on the same level as Aurora and Gabrielle. As he was now a free man and an heir apparent he would be involved in the rest of the trials though he did not have a vote yet.

The next to stand trial was the High Septon. The man was pushed into the room lying on a cart, since his current state of health allowed for little more.

When the cart was placed on the place of the lectern, which had been temporarily removed, Rhaegar again stood up and said, "High Septon, you have been accused of the following crimes, abuse of power, involvement in an illegal organization, disobeying a royal command and the attempted rape of two young children. How do you plead."

The High Septon was about to answer when Aurora stood up and walked forward until she could look the man in the eye. "Think very carefully about what you are going to say next. If you confess, you will receive a quick death. If you deny, I'll make sure your suffering thus far was nothing but an appetizer." The words were whispered so the High Septon was the only one who heard them, but they did their job.

"I plead guilty." The words rang through the throne room as most of the people watching sucked in their breath in disbelief.

Rhaegar again stood up and said, "Then by order of this council, you are condemned to death by decapitation."

The High Septon was whimpering softly while the cart was removed from the hall and he was placed in a side room to await his execution which would take place when all the trials had been dealt with.

Next up was Lord Elys Westerling. By orders of Gabrielle, Lord Elys was not shackled but he was still escorted by a pair of gold cloaks who remained standing on either side of him, when Rhaegar spoke again.

"Lord Elys Westerling, you have been found guilty of cooperating in a successful plot to sack the city of King's Landing. However, a plea has been done on your behalf and this council will listen to your side of the story before a punishment is decided upon."

Lord Elys took a deep breath before he spoke. "Your Graces, my Lords, my Ladies. It is true that I was involved in the sack of this city. I did as my liege lord commanded me to do even though it went against my very being. Tywin Lannister is a cruel and unforgiving man, if I had refused to obey him, my wife, my sons, my daughter and my entire family would have been slaughtered.

I know this does not excuse me from anything, but I did what I had to ensure the safety of my family as any man should. I will bear this guilt with me for the rest of my life, however long this council decide it shall be, and I ask but one thing. I will accept whatever punishment you decide, as the Gods know I deserve it, but I beg you not to lay a finger on my family, they carry no guilt in all of this."

Lord Elys sat down on the wooden chair and waited calmly as his fate was decided. The council discussed amongst themselves for ten minutes until they reached a verdict. Rhaegar once again stood up to deliver the verdict.

"Lord Elys Westerling, in consideration of the remorse you have shown and the efforts you have put into rebuilding that what you helped destroy, this council has come to the following decision. You shall remain Lord of the Crag, and all lands sworn to it will remain under your governance. However, you will supply 400 craftsmen for the expedition to Essos, all of their expenses in preparation for this journey to be paid by you. Furthermore, you will pay a fine of 25,000 gold dragons, which shall be used for the rebuilding of this city."

Lord Elys bowed his head in acceptance and thanked the council for their mercy. The fine would put a serious dent in his fortune, but at least he was spared the executioner or the Wall.

When Lord Elys was gone, the next captured lord took his place, this time it was Andros Brax.

The Lord of Hornvale stood proudly, despite his simple tunic of rough wool, bare feet and shackled hands. However, his pride soon disappeared when Rhaegar stood up and said, "Lord Andros Brax, you have been found guilty of helping to coordinate the sack of King's Landing. You shall pay a fine of 50,000 gold dragons and you are stripped of all titles. Your family will be allowed to remain at Hornvale and your son will become the new lord, but you shall spend the rest of your days serving the realm at the Wall. Take him away."

Two gold cloaks escorted a protesting Andros Brax out of the throne room and locked him up in a different room than the High Septon. Two different rooms had been assigned to hold the convicted, one for those who would be send to the Wall, and the other was for those who had been sentenced to death.

What followed was several hours of lesser lords and knight who were led before the throne and judged. In some cases, Aurora or Gabrielle were asked to discern a person's guilt or innocence, but most were simple cases. Lord Elys was the only lord who was allowed to keep his position, all others were either sent to the Wall or in a few cases sentenced to death.

Of the knights, many were sentenced to serve in the vanguard of the expedition, as they were given the choice between the Wall or Essos, and all of their wealth was confiscated by the crown. The families of those who were sent to Essos were left with enough to live for a year, after which they would have to take care of their own.

The second last to come before the council was Lord Mace Tyrell. The Lord of Highgarden stood proud when he was led in, but the shouting and curses directed at him soon saw him reduced to a subdued and humbled state.

When he stood before the council, his eyes first shot to his good friend Paxter, but the Lord of the Arbor had nothing but disdain and loathing in his eyes, an expression which was even more prominent on the face of Randyll Tarly.

"Lord Mace Tyrell," Rhaegar began as he stood up and the throne room was immediately quiet. "You stand here accused of the following crimes. Disobeying of a royal command, insulting an envoy of the King, and above all, cowardice on the field of battle that led to the death of 23,000 soldiers who were under your command. And which, as a direct consequence, allowed the Lannister army to reach the city and sack it. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

The Lord of Highgarden swallowed, feeling very uncomfortable under the many hostile glances he received. "M… m… My Lords, My Ladies, Y… your Gra… Graces, I… I… I panicked." He took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he continued. "We were camped for the night everyone was asleep and suddenly thousands of men on horseback came storming into the camp, burning tents or simply trampling them as they rode, everyone would have panicked."

"Lord Randyll did not panic," Aurora interrupted him coldly. "He kept his head cool and gathered all the men he could find to organize a successful counterattack, which allowed the main body of your army to regroup, but they lost morale when everyone saw you flee. Because why would they fight for a lord who was not willing to do the same for them? So, they fled as well."

Lord Mace was feeling more and more like a cornered animal, it was clear that they were pushing him into a direction which could end only two ways, the Wall, or the executioner, so he chose the lesser of two evils.

"I'LL TAKE THE BLACK," he yelled through the throne room and small smile appeared on the faces of Aurora, Gabrielle and Rhaegar. This was exactly what they wanted, because it would not do to see a Lord Paramount lose his head for anything less than treason, which he technically did not commit.

Rhaegar stood up again and said, "Very well, Mace Tyrell, you are hereby stripped of all lands and titles, wealth and possessions and you shall be escorted to the Wall. Your son Willas will inherit everything once he comes of age, but until then, Lord Randyll Tarly will be acting Warden of the South and Lord of Highgarden.

You will be given a day to say goodbye to your family, but you will leave at dawn, day after tomorrow. Take him away."

Two gold cloaks escorted the former lord out of the throne room while the last prisoner was brought before the council. Robert Baratheon did not look well. Two weeks of poor treatment and imprisonment had left its marks on him. He had a short rough beard, his face was ashen and his open shirt revealed the large bruises and small puncture wounds caused by Aurora's blows during their duel.

When the former Lord of Storms End stood before the King, Rhaegar rose for the last time and said, "Robert Baratheon, former Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, you have been accused of the following crimes, treason, open rebellion, causing the deaths of innocent people, lying to your fellow lords which drew them into a conflict you started out of spite, and lastly, the intent to kidnap my wife. All of these accusations have been proven true by your loss in a trial by combat, so you are hereby sentenced to death."

Robert didn't speak, it was as if he didn't even hear Rhaegar, he only stared at Lyanna his eyes never leaving her. When he was dragged out of the throne room by a pair of gold cloaks, his eyes remained fixed on her until the doors closed behind him.

This having been the last trial, the crowd slowly left the hall and relocated to the courtyard, where an execution block had been set up, and where those who had been sentenced to death were brought to.

When he hall was nearly empty, only Rhaegar, Lyanna, and Rhaella remaining, Rhaegar looked at his mother and said softly, "Why is it that so many had to die, just because a few people wanted more power for themselves."

Rhaella shook her head softly and said, "I do not know my son, but the gods have a reason for everything."

Lyanna put her arms around Rhaegar's neck and sat herself on his lap while she said, "Do not worry about what has been my love, worry only on what might happen in the future." After some hesitation, she added, "The people will expect you to name a royal executioner."

Rhaegar nodded but by the tone in her voice he knew she disagreed. "You don't agree with that, do you?" he asked softly and Lyanna shook her head.

"No, in the North we do it the Old Way, which is better. The man who passes the sentence, should swing the sword. It would go a long way in earning the respect of the Northmen if you did the executions yourself, no matter how distasteful a job you may think it."

Rhaegar nodded softly and whispered, "You're right, we need the favor of the Northmen, if we are to have a chance at relocating the wildlings. And if this is what it takes to earn their respect, then so be it. But I will not be using Brightroar ever again, take it to Tobho Mott and have him re-forge it. There should be enough metal for a bastard sword and a long dagger."

Rhaella nodded but said, "Then I suggest you pick another sword for the time being, as the people will expect the executions to happen today."

Rhaegar sighed in acceptance before he gentle nudged Lyanna to rise from his lap so he could stand up. "I know mother, I'll ask Aurora if I can borrow one of hers for the moment."

Fifteen minutes later, the council was once again gathered, this time on a small rise next to the execution block where Aurora and Gabrielle stood as guards, both leaning casually on their battle axes and with Aurora whistling a merry tune beneath her breath.

When it was time, Rhaegar rose from his seat and walked towards the block before turning to the crowd. "It is customary for the King to name a royal executioner, but I will do no such thing. My wife told me of the way it is done in the North, and I agree with her that it is better that way. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." Turning to Aurora he said, "My Lady, could I borrow one of yours until I can recover my own?"

Aurora gave him a foreboding grin and pulled one of her hand-an-a-half swords from over her shoulder. She spun it around her fingers before handing it to Rhaegar.

To his surprise it was much bigger in his hands than it had seemed in hers, it weighed as much as a greatsword and was nearly as big. The blade had a length of 4 feet 2 inches and a width of 3.5 inches at the cross guard. The blade was perfectly balanced and the rather large pommel was shaped as a roaring dragonhead. The cross guards were decorated with a flame-like design which ended in a vicious spike on either side. The blade itself was plain looking but polished to a shine and he could see his own reflection in the black steel.

Giving the sword a few test swings, Rhaegar quickly got a feel for the blade and soon he felt as ready as he would ever be. He gave a short nod to Aurora, who, with a certain malicious glee, pulled the High Septon from the cart he lay on and dragged him towards the block where she pushed him down with his neck resting neatly on the surface of the block.

Standing up Aurora whispered to Rhaegar, "Don't put your strength behind it or you'll cleave the block as well. Just raise it above your head and then let it drop down, the blade will do the rest."

Rhaegar gave a small nod and once Aurora had stepped aside, he did as she said and raised the sword above his head before letting it fall down. The blade cleanly cut through the fat neck of the High Septon and stuck itself in the bloodstained wood of the chopping block.

The now headless corpse of the High Septon slipped from the block while large gusts of blood sprouted from his open neck. The head fell in a basket from which it was removed by a grinning Aurora, who then pushed it on a spear which was fastened to the raised dais on which the block stood.

Next to go was one of the lesser knights of house Brax, who had been found guilty of rampaging through an orphanage, killing all the caretakers and raping two of the older orphan girls. The man let out a deep sigh before he stepped onto the dais himself and laid his head down on the block before Aurora could force him. The knight and the next five men were executed in short order until the last one was forced onto the dais.

Robert Baratheon threw a last pleading look at Lyanna, but her only reply was snapping her fingers and saying, "Ser Barristan, please bring _it_ to my husband."

Ser Barristan appeared from behind where Lyanna sat and replied, "Of course, Your Grace." And he walked towards the dais with a very familiar war hammer in his hands.

"My love," Lyanna spoke clearly so everyone could hear her, though she directed her words at Rhaegar. "Robert killed your good friend Jon Connington with this war hammer, I believe it is only right that you should now use it to kill him."

Rhaegar bowed his head in acknowledgment and returned the bloody sword he held to Aurora, before accepting the war hammer from Ser Barristan.

Aurora casually cleaned her sword using the clothes from the bodies that lay besides the dais, before sheathing it and forcing Robert to his knees before the block. Forcing his head away from Lyanna, she held him by the shoulders as he struggled to stand up while Rhaegar raised the great war hammer above his head.

With a sickening 'CRACK', the hammer struck Robert's skull and cracked it open like a ripe gourd. Pieces of brain, shards of bone and gushes of blood spurted to all directions as the hammer did its job and put a final end to the rebellion.

Now that the would-be usurper was dead, the people of Kings Landing cheered. The man who had caused so much suffering and death had finally met his justified end.

When the executions were done with, the crowd dispersed as there were still a few hours of daylight left and much still needed to be done in the capital. The council reconvened in the chambers of the Small Council, where they were joined by Varys, the master of Whispers and Lord Lucerys Velaryon, Master of the Eastern Navies.

They all took a seat and Aurora spoke first. "I believe I can speak for all of us when I say that I'm glad that's over and done with." She received a round of agreeing sounds before she continued. "If no one has any questions about the proceedings of today, then I suggest we continue with some logistical matters concerning our expedition."

Lord Paxter spoke up and said, "Now that you mention it, "Yes I actually do have a question. Why exactly was the High Septon executed, as no elaboration was given on his crimes and won't his execution anger the Faith?"

Aurora scoffed and said with disgust, "Like I give a shit. I had to kill quite a few of his little friends before I found him."

Being a religious man Paxter paled and gasped, "You killed men of the Faith?"

"No, I butchered nearly 50 members of the Faith Militant when they attacked me first. The Most Devout I killed because he was rude, and I kicked the High Septon down 4 flights of stairs because I really didn't like him."

Paxter now looked completely scandalized and sputtered, "But… but… but why?"

"Why?" Aurora growled out. "Because I caught those bastards red handed when they were about to rape two 8-year-old girls. I can overlook a lot of things, but there are three things I will not allow. Rape, the murder of women, and any kind of abuse or violence against children."

Paxter swallowed in fear as he saw the fury in Aurora's eyes, which had turned pitch-black and were burning with some inner fire.

Rhaegar coughed to get the attention of everyone at the table, who had been staring between Aurora and Paxter as if they were watching some kind of vocal contest, and said. "Now if there are no further matters, then perhaps we could continue with the subject which Lady Aurora just suggested."

Eddard cleared his throat before saying, "Well actually I might have a small point to add. Last night it dawned on me that even if we can get the wildlings to migrate south, what of the other beings that live north of the Wall? Wont they be turned by the White Walkers as well? Can we risk them raising armies of undead beast such as, mammoths, direwolves, shadowcats, snow bears, unicorns, and let's not forget, giants."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did you just say giants?" Aurora said with a very disturbing glint in her eyes, which was mirrored in those of Gabrielle.

Eddard nodded mutely and Aurora turned to Rhaegar before saying, "Forget about sending messengers north of the Wall, we are going ourselves, we have got to see this."

"What are you planning?" Rhaegar asked suspiciously while he carefully eyed the expressions of both Aurora and Gabrielle.

"Oh, nothing much really. Just wanting to see if they would be willing to join us on our little field-trip to Essos."

The others had to blink a few times until Eddard said incredulously, "Wait, you want to try and get _giants_ to join your army? Do you have any idea what those things can do to a man if they get angry?"

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded maniacally and Gabrielle said, "Oh yes, we know. If they are anything like the giants we know, then we can have a lot of fun together. I once saw a trio of giants fighting over a barrel of ale, that was the absolute best beer-fight I have ever seen."

All the others looked at them as if they were crazy, 'which was not entirely incorrect', thought Rhaegar, before he shook his head and muttered, "I really, _really_ , don't want to know."

Their musings were interrupted though by someone knocking furiously on the door. "Enter," Rhaegar said before anyone could react and the door opened to show Ser Arthur Dayne. Curiously enough, his face showed an equal amount of utter rage, as it did pure shock.

"What is it Arthur?" Rhaegar asked gently, not wanting to piss off the already on-edge knight before them.

"Your Grace," the Sword of the Morning said between clenched lips, "There is a visitor for Lord Eddard Stark, and it is rather urgent."

"Is it from Catelyn," Eddard asked quickly. Before noticing the raised eyebrows of several of his fellows and he explained. "My lady wife could go into labor with our firstborn child at any moment. She sent me a raven last week telling me that it could happen any day."

A dark scowl appeared on the face of Ser Arthur as he growled, "It is not from your _wife_ , Lord Stark. But it does concern _your firstborn child."_ With those words, he stepped aside and there appeared a tall young woman of maybe 17 years old. She had long black hair and haunting violet eyes. She wore a simple dress of midnight blue wool and was a great beauty, but what was most surprising about her appearance, was the several months old baby she held in her arms.

Eddard got pale as a corpse and stuttered, "He.. he… hello Ashara," while secretly thinking, ' _Seven Hells, Catelyn is gonne kill me."_


	13. Chapter 13

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 13

 _A dark scowl appeared on the face of Ser Arthur as he growled, "It is not from your_ wife _,_ _Lord_ _Stark. But it does concern_ your firstborn child _." With those words, he stepped aside and there appeared a tall young woman. She had long black hair and haunting violet eyes. She wore a simple dress of midnight blue wool and was a great beauty, but what was most surprising about her appearance, was the several months old baby she held in her arms._

 _Eddard got pale as a corpse and stuttered, "He.. he… hello Ashara," while secretly thinking, '_ Seven Hells, Catelyn is gonne kill me _."_

"Hello Ned," Ashara replied softly. "Do you remember what we did at your last visit to Starfall?"

"No, but I can guess." Aurora whispered loudly through the otherwise silent room, only to get a smack against the back of her head from Gabrielle who hissed,

"Could you please behave a little like your age."

While Aurora rubbed the smacked place on her head, Gabrielle really packed a punch if she was irritated, Eddard swallowed loudly and said, "Yes… yes of course I remember, it is just, you… you never said anything in your letters. If I had known I would never…"

At this he was interrupted by Brynden Tully who said coldly. "You would never have _what_? Never would have married my niece?"

Eddard sunk into his chair with his head in his hands and muttered. "This is all so messed up."

Finally, Lyanna felt a little sympathetic to her brother and said. "Would everyone please leave us alone. This is something that needs to be dealt with in private. We can continue our past discussion in the morning."

The look in her eyes told them all that it was not a suggestion and not wanting to anger their new Queen, most chose to make themselves scarce and hastily left the room. The only exceptions were Aurora, who didn't want to miss the show, and Gabrielle, who forcefully shoved her wife out of the room while apologizing for her behavior.

When only Rhaegar, Lyanna, Eddard, Ashara and Arthur were left, Lyanna indicated that they should all take a seat, which they did so. Rhaegar and Lyanna in the middle, Eddard on their left and Arthur and Ashara on their right.

Now that they were more or less alone, Rhaegar said, "I don't want to be rude, but could someone please tell me what is going on? I hate it when people are discussing something which I don't know anything about."

Arthur made to speak but one look from Rhaegar made him shut his mouth before the King continued. "Eddard, Lady Ashara, could you please explain to me what is going on."

Ashara nodded and went to speak but was interrupted by Eddard. "Please allow me Ash." When she nodded, he turned to Rhaegar, Lyanna and Arthur and began his explanation.

"Ashara and I met at the tourney of Harrenhal, after my brother Brandon introduced us. We kind of hit if off the first night and by the end of the tourney, we were madly in love. The two years since, I have visited her a few times at Starfall and we exchanged many letters, but once the rebellion began, we lost contact.

The last time I was there, we… we made love and I was already making plans to ask her father for her hand, but then the rebellion happened. She no longer replied to my letters, so I assumed she didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore.

Then when Lord Hoster demanded that I marry his daughter Catelyn, as a price for him joining our cause, I gave in, thinking that Ashara would never want to see me anyway if we won, since her family fought against us."

At this point Ashara interrupted him and said, "It wasn't that I didn't want to respond Ned, I just didn't know how. My mother had forbidden me to reply to your letters, and when I found out that I was pregnant, you had already married Lady Tully. How do you tell someone that they made you pregnant, while you just heard that he married someone else?"

Lyanna softly took her brother's hand between her own and asked him, "Ned, do you love Catelyn?"

Eddard looked her in the eyes before letting his head fall and softly shaking his head. "No," he whispered. Now looking up to Ashara he added softly, "Until my dying day, I'll always love you Ash, but we can't be together. I swore to marry Catelyn I gave my vows before The Old Gods and the New. As much as I would want to, we can't be together."

Ashara sniffed once, before she replied equally softly, "I know Ned. I know your honor would never allow you to break your vows with Catelyn. I don't ask you to raise our daughter, all I ask is that you will acknowledge her as your own, so that she can have a name. But know this Ned, I cannot stay in Westeros knowing that you are married to someone else. So I have decided to go with the expedition to Essos."

At this all the men looked up in shock, but Lyanna said, "I understand, if I might make a suggestion, the Ladies Aurora and Gabrielle will be leading the expedition, this will keep them very busy for the first few months, so they will need someone to look after the twin girls they have adopted. When we are done here, I'll take you to them and introduce you, I'm sure they'll take you under their care and with them you'll be as safe as you can possibly be."

Ashara nodded softly and both Eddard and Arthur looked at her with gratitude while Rhaegar asked, "What is her name, Lady Ashara?"

Ashara turned her daughter around in her arms, so that the others could see her face while she looked at Rhaegar and said, "With your permission Your Grace, I have named her Elia."

Rhaegar smiled sadly and said, "I do believe that would be fitting. She always liked your company and to now have your daughter named after her, it would please her I believe."

Ashara looked relieved to hear that and turning to Eddard she asked softly, "Would you like to hold her Ned?"

Eddard looked surprised by the offer and he nodded mutely. Ashara stood up and walked around the table holding the small bundle securely against her chest. She carefully handed Elia to her father under the scowling looks of Arthur.

Eddard looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms and he couldn't suppress a smile from creeping onto his face. The girl had his thick black curls, and her mother's haunting violet eyes. Elia looked at him with curious eyes and grasped his hand with both of hers before bringing his thumb to her mouth and trying to suck on it.

Eddard softly pulled his hand away from the girl's face, aware that he hadn't washed his hands for a while, and said tenderly, "She looks just like you Ash." At that moment Elia began crying softly and Ashara took her daughter back in her arms while saying, "I think she's hungry, I'll take my leave so I can feed her."

Eddard nodded softly before asking, "Will, will you stay in the city until the expedition leaves?"

Ashara nodded but said, "I will Ned, but the more we see each other, the harder it will be to say goodbye when the time comes."

Eddard could see the pain in her eyes but he knew she was right. As much as they both may hate it, it would be best if they didn't see each other more than was necessary.

Lyanna also stood up and said, "Come with me Ashara, I will introduce you to the Ladies and there you can sit down to sate the little one's apatite."

Lyanna gave Rhaegar a kiss before she led Ashara out of the room, leaving the three men behind them.

As soon as the women had left Eddard raised his hands in surrender to Arthur and said, "I swear on my honor, if I had known that your sister was pregnant, I would never have married Catelyn. I love your sister and I wanted to marry her, I still do but it is just not possible, we shall have to make the best out of this situation, no matter how hard it will be."

Arthur nodded sadly and replied, "I understand Lord Stark, I am not happy with it, but I understand that you aren't either. It is a difficult situation for us all, and it could all have been avoided if my mother hadn't forbidden Ash from writing you."

The three men spoke for a little while longer before they split up for the evening.

Lyanna led Ashara to Maegor's Holdfast and up to the rooms of Aurora and Gabrielle. When they entered the Holdfast, they could hear subdued voices arguing, which became louder the closer they came to the door which led to the rooms of Aurora and Gabrielle. The twins were sitting in a different room, at the bed of Yara Greyjoy, who was also visited by her brother and her uncle.

Yara had been recovering quickly, thanks to Gabrielle's skills with healing, and she was able to talk with the others and even joke around, though she had to be careful not to lay on her back as that would re-open her stitches and cause her to start bleeding again.

Lyanna poked her head around the door of the room and said, "Silvana, Lissena, could you join me for a moment?"

The twins quickly stood up and replied in unison, "Of course Your Grace." Before they hurried to join them in the hall.

Lyanna introduced them to Ashara and said, "Girls, this is Lady Ashara Dayne, Ashara, these are Silvana and Lissena, the adopted daughters of Aurora and Gabrielle. Girls, Ashara wanted to meet your parents, is it safe for us to go and see them?"

The twins fervently shook their heads and Lissena said, "No Your Grace. Mom said she was angry at mom, and because they were fighting, she sent us out of the room and told us not to come back in until it was time for dinner."

Lyanna sighed deeply before turning to Ashara and saying. "Please follow the girls, they can show you a quiet place where you can feed the little one." Ashara nodded and the twins eagerly led her towards a small sitting room that was deserted and which contained a very comfortable couch in which Ashara took a seat.

The girls sat down besides her and looked with interest as Ashara removed a brooch that held her dress up at one shoulder and lowered the fabric to reveal a large breast, swollen with milk. The little Elia instinctively latched onto the large brown nipple and started suckling hungrily.

"Ahhh," said Silvana softly, "She is so cute. How old is she?"

Ashara looked down at the girl and replied with a proud smile, "She is three months old now."

The girls carefully stroked Elia's hair as she drank and kept bombarding Ashara with questions.

When the girls led Elia away, Lyanna resolutely turned to the door of Aurora and Gabrielle's room and walked towards it with a brisk pace. She couldn't understand what was said behind the door, not because it was muffled by the door, but because it was some strange language she had never heard before.

She knocked loudly and the yelling stopped and after a few seconds the door was pulled open abruptly and she looked into the red face of Gabrielle. Lyanna raised a single eyebrow and asked, "I wanted to introduce you to someone, but if you two are too busy disturbing the peace it can wait." She turned around before saying over her shoulder, "I couldn't understand what you were saying, but half the castle must have heard you shouting."

Gabrielle swallowed and asked softly, "Was, was it that bad?"

Lyanna nodded and Gabrielle's color, which had lightened a little during the short talk, went bright red again.

Aurora poked her head around the door and she still had a small grin on her face, apparently, it was only Gabrielle who had been pissed off, the reason was rather obvious seeing as how they left the council chamber.

"Hey Lya," Aurora said cheerfully, to the obvious displeasure of her wife. "Did you need something from us?"

"I wanted to introduce you two to someone but if you are too busy it can wait.

With a cheeky grin Aurora winked to Lyanna, before turning to Gabrielle and giving her a very passionate kiss, which lasted nearly two minutes, and Gabrielle's face grew softer with every passing second until she was grinning weekly when Aurora let her go again.

"Shall we go?" Aurora asked innocently, ignoring Lyanna's flabbergasted expression at seeing Gabrielle resting her head on Aurora's left shoulder and embracing her tightly.

"I'm a great kisser," Aurora whispered to Lyanna and Gabrielle added,

"Yea, she sure is."

Not a hint of their argument seemed to remain and Lyanna asked softly, "How did you do that? And if it is that easy to calm her down, why didn't you do it earlier?"

Gabrielle grinned softly while she replied, "Aurora and I share a bond that goes deeper than anything you could ever imagine. Our minds have a connection that allows us to feel what the other feels, think what the other thinks and even use each others senses.

For example, if you were to blindfold one of us and cover our ears, we would still be able to defeat any number of enemies, as long as long as the other can still see and hear.

And thus, if we have an argument, we usually deal with it in silence, but sometimes it just feels great to let it all out and blow of some steam."

Lyanna gaped at them until she recovered and asked incredulously, "So you were fighting, just for the sake of it?"

Both women nodded and Aurora said, "Trust me, once you and Rhaegar are married for a few years, and you have a bunch of kids running around, it'll feel very good to just let it all out once in a while. We usually do it in the training ring, but we don't want to destroy half the city if it gets out of hand, so we'll wait until we can destroy a few castles to, 'have a proper argument'."

Lyanna shook her head and muttered, "Unbelievable, you two really are crazy."

"Uhu," she got confirmation from both and muttering to herself she led them to the room where Ashara and the girls were.

When they reached the room, they found Ashara still nursing Elia while she was answering a question from one of the girls. Lyanna knocked and the trio looked up. Ashara's eyes widened in shock, as Aurora and Gabrielle were still wearing their armor, by lack of what they called 'decent clothing', and she had not given them any attention during her entrance in the council chamber.

"Don't worry," Gabrielle said with a soft smile on her face, "we don't bite. We just don't have anything else to wear, as at the moment we absolutely refuse to wear a dress unless absolutely necessary. In these dangerous times, we prefer heavy steel over soft silks."

Ashara seemed a little relieved by these words and Aurora asked gently, "So, who is the little munchkin over there?"

Ashara blushed a little and replied, "Her name is Elia, she is the daughter of me and Ned."

"Yea," Aurora said a little sheepishly, "I figured as much. Sorry for my rudeness by the way, it was just so unexpected from the honor-obsessed Eddard Stark, to have a child out of marriage."

Ashara nodded and said, "I understand it must have been quite a shock for everyone. My brother was not happy when I told him who the father was. He nearly stormed into the chamber to attack Ned, if it hadn't been for Ser Gerold ordering him to stay his hand."

"But what will happen to little Elia now," Gabrielle asked cautiously. "I don't think Ned's wife will like it if he comes back to the North with both a child and a second wife."

Ashara shook her head and replied. "No My Lady. I cannot stay here. Ned and I cannot marry, my station is too low for the Lord of Winterfell, and even if it was not, Ned will never break his vow to Lady Catelyn. So, I have decided to go with your expedition to Essos."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle were surprised by this and Lyanna quickly interceded before they could ask questions. "I suggested to Ashara that it may be smart to get to know you two and the twins. I figured that since the two of you will be leading the expedition, you will be kept very busy for the first few months and quite some time after as well. So maybe Ashara could keep an eye on the twins for you, while you are away.

Besides," she added after a quick self-debate. "It will be expected of your position after you conquer the Stepstones. Rhaegar plans to name you 'Wardens of the Narrow Sea', and give you dominion over the Stepstones."

Both ladies looked a little hesitant and judging by their looks, they were having a mental debate on what to say until Gabrielle took the word. "I'm very sorry Lyanna, but we can't accept that. It is vital for the success of our mission that the Seven Kingdoms are kept out of it. We will be going to war soon, and if we are to avoid any reprisals against Westeros, we need to publicly break ties with the Iron Throne."

Now it was Lyanna who was shocked and Aurora said carefully. "We had planned to tell you this during the council meeting but Ashara and the Munchkin interrupted that plan a little. Please don't say anything to Rhaegar or anyone else about this. We will tell them tomorrow and it would be best if they heard it from us."

Lyanna nodded softly and said, "I see, then I will leave you for now and we shall meet at the council meeting tomorrow."

She nodded to the adults in the room before quickly leaving the room to find Ned and give him a good scolding for knocking up Ashara, it was time to see if it really did feel good to let it all out.

The rest of the evening and during dinner, the family of four spent getting to know Ashara and dotting over little Elia, who was officially nicknamed 'Munchkin', by Aurora, because she found it a cute name for the little girl.

The next morning after breakfast the council met again and as soon as they were all seated, Lyanna looked sternly at Aurora and Gabrielle and hissed, "You tell them now, or I will."

Under the confused looks of the others, Aurora and Gabrielle set their faces in a slight scowl before Aurora began her tale.

"Very well, we had planned to tell you all this yesterday, but events conspired against us, so we shall do it now. Once we have taken the Stepstones, you, Rhaegar, need to publicly condemn our actions and exile us from the Seven Kingdoms."

As expected a round of gasps and cries of "WHAT," and "WHY," came from all sides.

Aurora raised her hands to silence them before she continued.

"I am not saying this because I want to, but because it is necessary. We need to make it public knowledge, that all ties between us and the Iron Throne are severed.

Why this is necessary is very simple. We are going to war in Essos. And it will not be a pretty war. I don't know if you are familiar with the term, 'War-crimes', but that is what we will be committing on a large scale.

We are not just going to fight the Ghiscari. If we are to be ready to face the White Walkers when the Long Night comes, we shall need an army which's equal has never been seen in this world. In order to do that, we shall have to turn to Astapor and their Unsullied. As deplorable as slavery is, it is still very common in Essos and the Unsullied are but a single result of this system, but it is one we need to exploit.

I will buy every unsullied we can find, and I will free them all. But to avoid more to be trained, we shall have to completely destroy Astapor, also to set an example of what will happen to those who resist us.

We will rebuild Valyria with the slaves we will liberate. The volunteers who will help us take the Stepstones will stay behind there to populate it and hold it as a new province of Westeros. Only myself, Gabrielle, the twins and any who are willing to leave behind everything, will go to Valyria. The Iron Fleet will come with us, since they don't give a shit what the rest of the world thinks of them, am I right Victarion?"

The new Lord of the Iron Islands nodded solemnly and replied, "That is correct. Our way of life, our religion, and our very culture is built around the fact that the rest of the world sees us as pirates and reavers, which is exactly how we like it."

Aurora nodded at Victarion's words and continued. "Valyria is easily defendable. The dragons of old shall return to their home and retake it with fire and death, the legends will do the rest. But the Seven Kingdoms cannot be involved in this conflict. To many innocent lives would be lost if that were to happen."

Rhaegar sighed and after a few moments he said, "You are right, I really, _really_ don't want to admit it, but you are right. The two of you know more about the threat we will face in the Long Night, than anyone else in the world, so we have no choice but to listen to your advice and act accordingly if we are to survive.

The closest city to the Stepstones is Tyrosh, which also happens to be a city largely populated by slaves. The slavers of Tyrosh are reputed to be amongst the cruelest anywhere in the world. Start your conquest in Tyrosh, and I will have a justifiable reason to exile you whilst at the same time you will be removing the biggest threat to the Stepstones."

Gabrielle looked calculatingly, but Aurora nodded in agreement while saying with a little pride in her voice. "It is a sign of great king, if one can do what must be done for the good of his people, no matter how distasteful or deplorable the things might be."

Rhaegar accepted her words with reluctance before asking, "What force would you need to take Tyrosh? It is an ancient fortress city with walls of the same build as Dragonstone."

Aurora twisted her lips while she thought before asking, "It depends, do they have siege weapons like catapults or ballistae, because if they don't, it will be fairly easy and we need no more than the Iron Fleet.

If they do however have heavy weaponry, we cannot use dragonfire to burn their defenses and it will be a lot harder to take the city. I suggest we visit it first to see what we will be dealing with."

The others all nodded, but Jon Arryn post an apt question. "Why are we just hearing this now, after we spend nearly a week working on the preparations for your expedition?"

With a wry smile Gabrielle replied, "That is because we didn't realize it was necessary until the 'golden assholes' escaped. The danger posed by the Ghiscari completely changes the whole balance of power in Essos. Because they could potentially unite all the slaver cities against us and if they strike before we are ready, we will lose everything. We have to take at least a few of them one by one, until we can get the numbers we need to effectively fight against the Ghiscari."

Aurora nodded in agreement and added, "And it is crucial, that this point of our plans does not leave this room, as it needs to be a complete surprise for the people if it is to be believed."

Another round of nods was all the answer she got, and soon the discussions turned towards more serious matters, like the rebuilding of Flea Bottom and the strain it was putting on the royal treasury.

The gold Rhaegar had ordered to be seized from Casterly Rock was still under way, but since it was too much to be safely transported over land, it came by sea under escort of the Redwyne fleet. However, the Stepstones were still in the way of the treasure fleet and needed to be taken before they could safely pass through the island chain.

The rest of the day and the day after that followed were spent in endless discussions about finances, manpower, food stores and all other things that were of importance while planning an invasion.

The main problem they were facing was the fact that they didn't have the ships to get the necessary men to the Stepstones. Of the royal fleet, a full ¾ was burned to ashes by the wyverns, and the merchant fleet that had been anchored was completely destroyed, leaving them with just 38 heavily damaged and barely afloat vessels.

Victarion had gotten word that Dagmer Cleftjaw had set sail from the Iron Islands with just over 500 longships and 26,000 Ironborn, men, women, and children as a large part of their population had decided to seek out more fertile places to build a new home for themselves, preferably by force.

The point was that the Ironborn alone didn't have the manpower to take the Stepstones, as nearly a third of their number were women and children, and they didn't have a means to get more man there, unless the Stepstones were secured. Eventually it was Oberyn who came with a solution. The prince had continued to sit in on the meetings, as his brother's recovery would take many weeks if not months.

The Dornish fleet, added with every ship they could find, for a total of 138 ships, would travel back and forth twice between King's Landing and Ghost Hill in Dorne. At Ghost Hill, they would be awaited by the 5,000 Dornishmen Oberyn had promised them. From there the army would march across Dorne to join up with the Iron Fleet which would wait for them at the mouth of the Greenblood.

The third trip the makeshift fleet would take would carry mostly knights on foot and heavy infantry, as they would land on Bloodstone, which was the most heavily defended of the islands and the main base from which the pirates operated. The Iron Fleet would, once they joined up with the army, sail to the tips of the Broken Arm, where they would drop off the women and children and from there on separate into a dozen smaller groups which would each take one of the smaller islands.

The second largest island, named Grey Gallows and after Bloodstone the most heavily defended, would be taken by Aurora and Gabrielle, who refused any company as Aurora said, "We need to try some of the more 'creative' ideas we have and anyone you send with us would face more danger from us than from the enemy."

Finally, everyone agreed with this plan and at the end of the week, two things happened. The first trip with nearly 7,000 men left King's Landing. Half of the men on those ships were captured Lannister soldiers and the rest were volunteers from the North and the Vale.

The second thing that happened was that at dawn, the fifteenth day from their trip to Dragonstone, both Silvana and Lissena came running into their parent's bedroom and yelled, "THEY'RE HATCHING."


	14. Chapter 14

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 14

 _The_ _fifteenth day from their trip to Dragonstone, both Silvana and Lissena came running into their parent's bedroom and yelled, "THEY'RE HATCHING."_

Both Aurora and Gabrielle jumped up from beneath the blanket, bumping their heads together in the process. Rubbing their temples carefully, they saw that both girls held their egg in their hands and small cracks had appeared in the hard shells.

Aurora and Gabrielle quickly dressed, since they always slept nude after their 'nighttime activities', and joined the girls in watching the eggs.

Rhaella had told them that she chose to let her egg cool off, as she didn't have the time to raise a dragon in the near future, so these two were the only ones that were about to hatch.

Over the next few hours, they watched as more and more cracks appeared in the shells. They had called for a servant to bring them breakfast, using some lame excuse no one would believe, but was obeyed anyway.

Finally, an hour after noon, the first piece of shell broke off from Silvana's egg. Lissena's followed soon after and in less than five minutes the two baby dragons had crawled their way out of the eggs.

The one on Lissena 's lap was a deep purple with light violet markings around the spine and legs, and the one on Silvana 's lap was sapphire blue with lavender colored markings. They were roughly the size of a cat with wings that spread out maybe 2 feet to either side. Like wyverns they had only two legs and two wings, contrary to Aurora and Gabrielle who had four legs. Their wings were leathery but they could see and feel many thousands of miniscule scales already present on their bodies.

To the surprise of Aurora and Gabrielle, they could sense the minds of the small reptiles the moment they left their eggs. The minds were infantile and contained no more than a few basic instincts, but with training and lots of practice, they thought that they might eventually be able to communicate with them on a very basic level.

On the urging of Gabrielle, both girls held their right forefinger in front of the little dragon heads, and soon both latched onto them with their small, though very sharp fangs. The twins twitched when their skin was pierced but didn't cry out as they watched the two little dragons eagerly drink from the blood that dripped from the wounds.

"A bond sealed in blood." Muttered Gabrielle as Aurora carefully took a large needle which she had put there before hand, and carefully pricked it into the left leg of Silvana's hatchling. The dragon was so busy drinking, that it didn't notice the pinprick until Aurora carefully grasped its leg and pulled its head away from Silvana's finger. She raised the dragon's leg to above the bleeding finger and squeezed three drops of blood from the dragon which dropped into the open wound.

Next she pricked her own finger and added two drops of her own blood, the effect was rather brutal. As soon as the second drop hit, Silvana cried out in pain before fainting and being caught by Gabrielle. The hatchling was still struggling in Aurora's hands until she hissed at it and it became instantly still, recognizing her as the superior predator. She placed it on Silvana's lap where it curled up and went to sleep.

Lissena looked wide-eyed at what had happened to her slightly older sister, and was a little hesitant until Gabrielle said, "Trust me sweetheart, this will make both you and the hatchling stronger than normally possible and it will strengthen the bond between you two."

She finally relented and allowed Aurora to repeat the procedure with her, which had the exact same effect. When both girls had fainted, Aurora and Gabrielle picked them up and carried them to their bed, where they tucked them in with the hatchlings next to them.

They stayed by their bed for the rest of the day and all through the night, during the feverish dreams they knew would accompany the transition from human to part-dragon.

The next day at dawn, both girls woke shortly after each other, Lissena waking her sister while she stretched herself. The hatchlings were likewise awake, stumbling around on the blankets, looking for food.

"What happened last night?" was the first question Silvana asked as she saw their mothers dozing in two chairs next to the bed.

The two women shot up as they heard Silvana's question and before she answered it, Gabrielle asked, "How are you feeling?"

Both girls checked themselves over for any sores or pains but found nothing. However, when they inspected the fingers the dragons had bitten yesterday, they found no wounds, only very faint scars.

At their surprise, Aurora said with a grin, "That would be one of the advantages of what we did last night. You will find that you heal a lot faster now and that you will become stronger. Not as strong as us, but you'll be able to easily match an adult man, whilst having a far greater condition than any normal human.

When those two," she pointed at the dragons who had given up their search for food and curled themselves in the girls' laps, "are a few months older and no longer require full-time attention, we shall begin your training in earnest. When they are old enough to be ridden, you will be strong enough to force them to obey you, which is not a physical struggle, but a mental one."

Gabrielle nodded and asked, "Are you hungry? We can send for a servant to bring you something to eat, as I'm afraid those two cannot leave this room until they are a bit older. Until they can breathe fire, they are too vulnerable to be left alone, so the next month or so, you two will not leave this room. We'll tell everyone you have come down with some sickness which is contagious, so that no one will bother you. But don't worry, you won't get bored, raising a dragon is very hard work."

Gabrielle's words proved more than true as the two hatchlings, which were named, Saphirus (Silvana's and being male) and Violet (Lissena's and being female), caused a lot of trouble during the first few weeks of their lives. Aurora and Gabrielle spent most days with the Council, discussing all matter of things, or otherwise flying to and from the encampment at Ghost Hill.

For some strange reason, which Aurora and Gabrielle were unwilling, or unable to explain, no one outside of a very small circle of people seemed to remember seeing them change shapes. Only the Council, the Kingsguard and the Royal Family were able to remember the event.

Luckily the men from the Westerlands behaved and though they were closely guarded by the Northmen and the men of the Vale, no fights had broken out yet between the different factions.

The Ironborn were making good progress and had passed the Arbor by the fourth week since their voyage began. They were expected to reach the mouth of the Greenblood within another three weeks, which would be around the same time as the 19,000 men who would march there from Ghost Hill.

When the hatchlings were a month old, their bodies were the size of large dog, and they both ate four whole chickens every day. On advice from Aurora and Gabrielle, the chickens were released into their room and Saphirus and Violet would have to catch their dinner by themselves. An unfortunate side effect of this was that by the end of the fifth week, not a single piece of furniture remained in one piece.

By the end of their sixth week, Saphirus managed to set Silvana's dress on fire, when he sneezed as she was tickling him under his chin. Both she and Lissena started screaming in fear, until Lissena threw a jug of water over her sister, dousing the flames and coming to the realization that Silvana was not even a little tanned by the dragonfire.

However, people in the hall had heard them scream and soon the door was thrown open and Ashara, who had been given a room on their floor, came rushing in followed by her brother Ser Arthur and Yara Greyjoy, who had fully recovered from her wound.

"WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS ARE THOSE?" Ashara yelled at soon as she saw the dragons who were happily chewing on a piece of wood, which used to be part of the foot end of Lissena's bed. They were startled by her yelling and sprang up with their wings fanned out and hissing loudly towards the intruders into their domain.

Arthur had already drawn his sword in preparation to defend his sister, when Silvana and Lissena sprung in front of their dragons and yelled as one, "NO DON'T HURT THEM!"

The other three looked more than a little surprised but soon realization dawned on Arthur as he compared Saphirus and Violet to the shapes of Aurora and Gabrielle. "Wait," he gasped, "Are those…?"

The twins nodded and while they patted the dragons on their necks to calm them down, Lissena said, "Yes Ser Arthur, these are Violet and Saphirus, our dragons who hatched six weeks ago."

Arthur blinked a few times before the world spun before his eyes and he dropped flat on his face, fainted by pure shock at the revelation.

"They are so cool," Yara whispered once she had recovered from the shock and moving closer hesitantly, she asked softly, "Can I touch them?" The hopeful expression on her face persuaded the twins to permit it and Yara slowly approached the legendary creatures.

Saphirus hissed warningly to Yara, but when Silvana took his head in her hands and rubbed it roughly, just the way he liked it, he allowed Yara to carefully stroke the scales on his back.

"It is so warm," Yara whispered excitedly and Silvana nodded while Violet nudged her head against Yara's back, wanting some attention for herself. Yara was startled at first but soon she recovered and began scratching Violet under her chin, by Lissena's direction.

Meanwhile Ashara had managed to wake her brother and both Dayne siblings were staring in awe as the fearless Greyjoy girl was dividing her attention between Saphirus and Violet.

Soon more people started to arrive, drawn by the initial noise and later when the news spread around the Red Keep, until finally it reached the council chamber, which just happened to be in session that day.

Rhaegar and Tyrion, who accompanied Lord Paxter during every council meeting, were in a discussion about the amount of taxes the Westerlands had to pay for the help of the Ironborn. It had been decided that the Reach would supply everything that had been promised to the Ironborn by Aurora, and the rest of the seven kingdoms would each pay a percentage of the total costs to the Reach.

Tyrion was of the opinion that the percentage that had been dealt to the Westerlands was to large, namely 20%, and he opted for a more reasonable 17%, when the door was thrown open, without knocking, and an officer of the gold cloaks came running in.

"There are dragons in Maegor's holdfast," the man said after regaining his breath. "Two small dragons were found in the chambers of the Ladies Aurora and Gabrielle." At those words all eyes turned towards said ladies who were looking at the commotion with a cheeky grin on their faces.

"Oops, well it would seem that the secret is out." Aurora said casually and to the utter shock of the entire council, minus Rhaella who shared their cheeky grin.

"They hatched about six weeks ago," Gabrielle told the dumbfounded council. "We found the eggs in the vault on Dragonstone, Silvana and Lissena were drawn to them and they hatched for them.

"We have five more eggs," Rhaegar was about to cry out at this until Aurora silenced him with a single look, "which we will hold onto until the realm is stable enough to do without its king for a year. Raising a dragon is a very time-consuming job and it can take more than a year until the dragon is old enough to roam free without being a danger to itself or others. We don't want the dragons accidently killing civilians or burning down houses by mistake. Dragons are very dangerous creatures, who must be treated with respect and appropriate fear and caution, if they are to be kept under control."

The entire council was shocked by the news and it was deathly silent until Randyll Tarly spoke up, "Why wasn't the council told about this before? I would think that such news is of great importance to everyone."

To the surprise of most, it was Rhaella who answered his question. "They didn't inform you all, because I told them not to. They have told me much about the dragons, I myself hold one of those five other eggs in my possession, and I was of the opinion that it would be too distracting for the council. Besides that, it would be too dangerous for the dragons as they need the first few weeks to properly bond with their riders."

The council was mostly pacified by her words but Rhaegar couldn't help but grumble, "You could have told _me_ at least. I mean I am _the King_ for crying out loud."

This outburst only got him a smack to the back of his head from Lyanna who said, "Yes, and if you had been told, we would need a score of oxen to drag you away from them every waking hour. Can you honestly say that you would be able to focus on other matters if you knew they were in the Keep?"

Rhaegar had gotten red after his wife had scolded him in front of the most powerful lords of the realm, most of whom were snickering at her action, and muttered softly, "No I wouldn't have been able to."

Lyanna smirked in victory and said, "Well then, now that the news is out, could we go and see them I am quite curious to see those dragons for myself." Aurora and Gabrielle stood up and without a word, they led the council back to their rooms in the Holdfast.

Barristan and Gerold joined them once they entered the hallway, as they had been guarding the King along with their two newest sworn brothers who guarded the Queen.

The two new members of the Kingsguard, who had volunteered solely to guard Lyanna, were both from the North. One was the youngest brother of the Greatjon, Ser Daron Umber. The other was a bastard-born knight, sworn to house Manderly, Ser Bartimus Snow. Instead of the seven-pointed-golden-crown on white, which adorned the breastplates of their brethren, Ser Daron and Ser Bartimus both proudly carried a white wolf's head on black.

There had been a not so small uproar amongst the nobles and the remaining Kingsguard when it became known that Lyanna planned to add both a bastard and a man who was not a knight at all to the ranks of the Kingsguard. Lyanna's reply was to order both men to kneel, draw Ice, which was slung across Ned's back, and in front of the entire court, she tapped both men on the shoulders and stated. "In the name of the Old Gods, I order you to be brave, loyal, righteous and proud. Now rise, Ser Daron and Ser Bartimus, first knights of the Winter Wolves."

The deathly silence in the throne room had been broken by the sound of an uproarious laughter, coming from Aurora and Gabrielle who were rolling over the floor, laughing so hard that the tears were streaming over their cheeks.

The ensuing chaos and uproar lasted three days, as the entire court and part of the city argued about whether it was possible to have _both_ a Kingsguard and a Queensguard at the same time. Finally, Rhaegar managed to convince Lyanna to allow her men to add a seven-pointed-crown to the White wolf's head on their breastplates. Afterwards Rhaegar swore them into the Kingsguard, though Lyanna insisted that they were to guard her and her alone, which was acceptable to the rest of the Kingsguard.

When they arrived at the rooms of Aurora and Gabrielle, they saw a crowd of several dozen gathered before the doors. Aurora scratched the nails of her right gauntlet across the stones that made up the wall and the screeching noise it caused drew the attention of everyone.

"Good, now that I have your attention, PISS OFF," that last part was yelled through the hallway and the crowd of simple guardsmen and servants scurried away, not willing to risk the already legendary fury of the two 'dragon riders'.

Gabrielle led them into their rooms where they found Silvana, Lissena, Yara and Ashara who carried Elia in her arms, gathered around Saphirus and Violet and doting them with attention. They were guarded by Ser Arthur, who had gotten help from Prince Lewyn and Ser Oswell.

The four women quickly stood up when they saw Rhaegar and Lyanna and after making a courtesy, they each said in turn, "Your Graces, My Lords."

Saphirus and Violet meanwhile didn't like the sudden end of their pampering, and they made it clearly known by fanning out their wings and shrieking to the new arrivals. A single hiss from Aurora stopped their tantrum immediately and caused them to approach her with lowered heads to seek her attention. Both Aurora and Gabrielle scratched them behind the small horns that grew on their heads and they growled softly in an appreciative and submissive way.

The rest of the Council looked amazed as they saw how Aurora and Gabrielle treated the two fearsome and legendary beasts, but being amongst the only ones who knew about their secret, it did not surprise them too much.

Rhaegar stood dumbfounded in the entrance, staring as if enthralled at the two little dragons. He was finally brought out of his reverie by an elbow jab from Lyanna who hissed in his ear, "Stop staring like they're some miracle. It's not like you have never seen a dragon before."

Rhaegar shook his head and asked, "What are they called?"

Silvana was the first and said, "The Blue one is mine, and he is called Saphirus."

Lissena was next and said, "Mine is called Violet, and she's a girl."

Rhaegar carefully approached the two dragons with his mother besides him and they cautiously lowered their hands so that the dragons could sniff them. Apparently, they approved of their smell because both Saphirus and Violet nudged their heads into their outstretched hands.

A look of wonder and delight appeared on the faces of mother and son as they touched the dragons' warm scales.

The next half hour was spent with everyone doting over the dragons, who were perfectly fine with it as they adored the attention they were given. In the end, it was decided that the dragons would be given a formal introduction to the city when they were two months old, which would coincide with the departure of Aurora and Gabrielle to the Stepstones.

The last two weeks before they left were spent with denying access to anyone who wanted to see the dragons and making the final preparations. The last trip of the fleet, carrying 1,500 knights and 5,500 men-at-arms, left a week before Aurora and Gabrielle and they had gotten word from Dagmer Cleftjaw that the Iron Fleet had reached the mouth of the Greenblood and was waiting for the gathered army to reach them.

During the last two weeks, the dragons had grown another three inches in length and now they stood nearly mid-rib with their heads compared to the twins when they stoop upright un their legs.

The day of their departure was a bright sunny day in autumn. It would probably be one of the last few days of good weather, as according to the citadel, winter was fast approaching.

At dawn, Aurora and Gabrielle were woken up by the twins who were overjoyed that the day had finally come on which they could show off Saphirus and Violet to the whole of King's Landing.

"Come on mom," Silvana whined, "Get up, get up, get up. we wanne be on time for breakfast."

Both adults groaned, it was way too early to get up in their opinion, and Aurora hissed to Saphirus and Violet in an attempt to get them to distract the girls. It did not work as planned. Both dragons stuck their heads under the blankets and using their long tongue's, they tickled the soles of the feet of Aurora and Gabrielle.

With a yelp, they both shot up from under the blankets and fell out of bed thanks to their momentum. The twins burst out laughing at seeing their parents in such an undignified position and the dragons strutted around in pride at what they had accomplished.

While they were being praise and petted by the twins, who had trouble doing both that and laughing, Aurora grumbled, "Thanks a lot, you worthless reptiles. You're supposed to be on my side, remember?"

The reason for the dragons' disobedience soon became clear when Silvana came up with a leather bag and withdrew two halves of a dead rabbit. Tossing the head to Saphirus and the tail to Violet, the dragons snatched their treats out of the air and scurried out of the room.

"Smart move girls," Gabrielle muttered with a little admiration, "I'm proud of you, and so is your mother though she won't admit it." Aurora huffed in indignation while she untangled herself from the mass of blankets that held her trapped.

"Making a dragon do something for you with the promise of a reward, is a much better way to get him to obey and to form a lasting bond in the long run, especially when they will eventually get so big that they can just ignore any threats you'll make."

The twins were glowing in the praise but it did not diminish their excitement. They hurried to their own room to get dressed, while Aurora and Gabrielle did the same in their own room.

It was not an easy task to put on their armor, it was impossible to do it alone, and even with help, it took them nearly twenty minutes for each. When they were finally done, they grabbed their battle axes from where they rested against the wall and took a last look around their room, to see if they had forgotten to pack anything since they wouldn't be coming back to King's Landing for a considerable time in the future.

Silvana and Lissena were likewise packed. They had all their possessions, which had become a considerable pile in the last few months, packed neatly on the table, the only piece of furniture still standing in one piece, and were dressed warmly for the journey. They each wore thick wool leggings, which were tucked into fur lined boots and over that they wore tunics of the same material as the leggings. A thick fur vest was laying waiting for both of them.

Gabrielle helped the girls to put everything into her pouch, while Aurora put a thick leather collar around the necks of both Saphirus and Violet. To the collars she attached a 15 foot steel chain with a large ring on the end.

When the girls were done, Aurora handed them each the ring to their respective dragon and said, "Now remember girls, hold onto these, no matter what happens. They are not yet strong enough to lift you from the ground, but since they can both breath fire now, we don't want them flying away out into the city."

The girls replied in unison, "Yes mom," before putting a thick leather belt through the rings and tying them around their middles. They had already trained the dragons to walk around with the collar, so they weren't too fussy about it, though they made it obvious that they didn't like the extra weight of the chains.

During their walk to dinner, they attracted a lot of stares from the servants, many of whom saw the dragons for the first time. For the time being, Saphirus had taken a seat on Aurora's right shoulder, while Violet had done the same with Gabrielle. It was soon apparent that their lack of front legs made them very unsuited for walking, and so they had soon taken a ride, to the amusement of the twins.

When they arrived at breakfast, Rhaenys' squeal of excitement was the first thing they noticed. "They're here, they're here."

"Shss, Rhaenys, you'll scare them," Rhaella reprimanded her granddaughter.

"Don't worry," Aurora said with a grin, "They are used to it by now." Aurora stretched her arm out to the table while Gabrielle did the same. Saphirus and Violet used the arms to walk down towards the table where they began to eagerly sniff at every dish they could reach.

With a small grin on her face Aurora pulled a plate of roasted bacon away from Violet, who was about to snatch a piece away. To the amusement of everyone else, the dragon made a soft whining noise as if to say, 'Not fair I want some too'.

Joining them at breakfast were, the Royal family, Yara Greyjoy, who had stayed behind when her uncle and brother returned to the Iron Islands a week before, and Ashara Dayne.

Ashara and Yara were dressed similarly to the twins, as after a month of begging, Silvana and Lissena had gotten their parents to finally agree to let Yara come with them. It made sense, as Yara had gotten very close with the twins during her recovery and they formed a nearly inseparable trio. The time they had been forced apart when the dragons had hatched had been rough on all three of them, but especially on Yara as she had no one else to turn to except for her brother.

During breakfast, they made some last-minute arrangements, including a promise from Aurora and Gabrielle to visit the Wall after they had taken the Stepstones. They would go while their army was resting and preparing for the attack on Tyrosh.

They would drop the girls and Ashara off at Sunspear, before Aurora and Gabrielle would rendezvous with the two fleets to give some last-minute orders and to make sure everyone knew what their assigned job was.

The goodbye they said to Rhaegar, Lyanna, Rhaella, Rhaenys and all the others was for a much longer time than most people expected. Only the council knew of the plans made for the direct future, but it would not be long now before the whole world would hear it.


	15. Chapter 15

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 15

The Greatjon stood on the prow of the _Spear of Dorne_ with Prince Oberyn next to him. The two men stared at the faintly illuminated form of Bloodstone in the distance. The island was lit by torches and the outline was illuminated by the weak light of pre-dawn.

The attack had been timed thus that every group of ships would reach their designated target at dawn, so hopefully they could catch them by surprise, but still have full visibility during the battle.

"It is too quiet," the Greatjon muttered to no one in particular, but Oberyn answered none the less.

"I agree, we have roughly fifteen more minutes until we reach the shore, but my gut is telling me that we will be spotted before we can properly form up our men. My scouts have kept an eye on the traffic in the islands and if their guesses are correct, we are dealing with over 50 ships and more than 5,000 pirates, on this island alone.

The one the Ladies have chosen is expected to house about 4,000 pirates and maybe 40 – 45 ships. The rest should have an easy job, as the lesser islands are mostly just small fishing villages with no real defenses, ideal targets for Ironborn reavers."

The Greatjon nodded slowly and replied, "I know, I just hope we have the time to form up our men in a decent battle-line, before they start raining down arrows on our heads." To this Oberyn replied with a single nod before he turned around and left to make sure the men on their ship were all ready for battle.

Dagmer Cleftjaw stood at the helm of his new flagship, the _Kraken's Vengeance_ , and looked out over the sea ahead. The largest squadron of the Iron Fleet, 150 ships, was spread out around them and they were making good time towards their new target.

The new orders had come as a surprise, but after reviewing all the facts, he agreed that it was better to revise their original plan. If his calculations were correct, they would reach the island half an hour after dawn, which would hopefully be just in time.

Around midnight, Aurora and Gabrielle were slowly circling above the island of Grey Gallows, they were observing their target and what they saw thus far was very satisfying. The island consisted of half a dozen villages and around the coast and a single fortified wooden keep on the top of a small hill.

With their enhanced eyesight, they could see a small number of patrols walking around the island but it was a far cry from any organized military force. Discipline and order where nowhere to be seen and filth and piles of rotting food where everywhere.

" _What do you think?"_ Gabrielle asked telepathically.

" _Start at the villages,_ _see if my theory is correct and then use them to take the keep."_

" _Let's get to it then."_

They both dove down on silent wings and landed between two villages. They changed back to human form and carefully made their way towards one of the villages. They entered one of the huts on the edge and found a filthy barracks, barely worth the title, which was occupied by about two dozen sleeping men.

Aurora barricaded the door to keep anyone from getting in, while Gabrielle crept towards the sleeping pirates. She carefully placed her bare right hand on the head of the nearest pirate, and clapped her still armored left over his mouth, to keep him from alerting the others.

As soon as the cold steel of her glove touched the man, his eyes snapped open but Gabrielle's grip was too strong to break. Gabrielle closed her eyes and after taking a deep breath, she dove into the man's mind.

The memories she saw confirmed what they already thought, these men were nothing short of monsters. She saw as the man she held, as well as dozens of others, attacked defenseless merchant ships, and raided coastal settlements. She watched as they enslaved the people they captured, raped the women and killed the weak.

With a grim expression, she removed herself from the man's mind and shared a look with Aurora, who had saw the same through their link. Her wife nodded a single time and having received the confirmation that what they were about to attempt was justified, Gabrielle took another deep breath and again dove into the man's mind.

This time she didn't watch the memories, but wiped everything she came across. She removed every aspect of the man's personality, his name, his memories, his mannerisms, his sense of right and wrong, his sense of self-preservation, his ability to feel pain, everything that divined the man was taken away. She replaced them with knowledge of fighting and warfare, everything that a soldier needed to know was planted in the man's mind leaving him an emotionless and completely obedient killing machine.

When she was done the man just looked ahead with a blank look in his dull eyes. The only thing that was left him of him was a body that could speak and understand orders, but was unable to feel, to think for himself or to do anything he was not ordered to do. In other words, they had just created the perfect soldier. What took the Good Masters of Astapor years to do, Gabrielle had just done in less than a minute.

When she removed her hands from the man, he stayed where he was until Gabrielle whispered, "Stand up." The man did as commanded and silently stood up from his bed before he stood at attention, waiting for new orders. They ignored the man for now, and went to each of the other beds to do the same to those men.

Ten minutes later they had 23 completely obedient soldiers and as a final test, they went to the worst they had found, a man who had done more cruel acts than they could count.

When she stood before the man, Aurora asked, "Who are you?"

In a blank tone the man replied, "I am no one, my life does not matter, only my obedience does."

Aurora nodded approvingly before pulling a knife from her boot. She handed it to the man and said, "Cut you throat."

Without hesitation, without doubt, the man took the knife and without even flinching, he pulled the razor-sharp blade across his own neck, opening a cut half an inch deep. While the blood poured from his throat, the man handed the knife back to Aurora, seconds before he slumped to the ground, dead.

"Hmm," mussed Aurora with a calculating look on her face. "Impressive, I had expected him to at least flinch."

"Yea, me too." Gabrielle was less emotionless than Aurora. She understood that it was necessary, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

They left the men in the 'barrack', and went to the next one. Over the course of the next 40 minutes, they made their way from hut to hut, wiping the memories of every men they found and turning them into loyal elite soldiers.

When dawn arrived, they had been to five of the six villages and 'recruited' nearly 3,000 men. After a while they discovered that they could do entire groups at the same time, if they caught them sleeping. The mind is weakest when it is asleep, so it made it more easy to break them.

When the first light of dawn rose above the hills, they split up their forces, 1,000 men would go with Gabrielle to the last village, while the rest would take the keep with Aurora.

Their plan went off almost without a hitch. The men who took the last village were able to completely surprise their former comrades, allowing them to capture most and only having to kill a few dozen.

The men who were sent to the keep were allowed in, before they quickly and ruthlessly overwhelmed the guardsmen. However, someone managed to blow a horn and raise the alarm, so they were forced to fight, but the initial hesitation of the pirates to fight against what they thought were still their own men, allowed Aurora's soldiers to quickly cut down most of them, while only losing a dozen of their own.

When the last of the pirates were either slain, or captured, Aurora and Gabrielle searched through the keep to look for anything that might be of importance to them. In the dungeons, they found dozens of prisoners, mostly young women and girls who had been abducted for obvious reasons, but also some merchants who were being held for ransom and half a dozen knights.

The prisoners were quickly released and given blankets to warm them. Seeing as some hadn't eaten for days, they were led to something that faintly resembled a dining hall and given a semi-decent meal of what they could scrounge up for provisions.

Initially the former prisoners were afraid of the former pirates, until Gabrielle got the bright idea to have them all cover their heads so that they wouldn't be recognized by anyone. They had already decided to take the men with them, they would be the ideal vanguard when taking Tyrosh, but it was important that they weren't revealed as what they had been before.

When everything had been put in order, they had given temporary command of the island to one of the knights who had a decent understanding of how to run a keep, Aurora and Gabrielle decided to go and check on the progress of the others. The smaller islands would no doubt have already fallen, but the toughest nut to crack was Bloodstone, and especially the keep of the same name.

During the war of the Ninepenny Kings, Maelys the Monstrous had erected a strong keep on the island, which was taken rather easily as he was foolish enough to leave the safety of his walls to face the Targaryan army on the field. But till this day, the keep stood strong, built against the side of a cliff, with walls 50 feet high and large square towers which held catapults and could house many ranks of archers.

During their scouting trip the previous day, which they had done after they had dropped the twins, Yara, Ashara and Elia off at Sunspear, had revealed an even greater threat though. In the large natural harbor of bloodstone, lay not only the expected fifty-or-so pirate ships, but also two score of heavy dromonds. These were not ordinary merchant ships, but heavily armed warships with ballistae and catapults on board.

Even worse though was the fact that each of the ships carried around a hundred men-at-arms, raising the number of expected defenders to well over 9,000, which meant that their invasion force was outnumbered by more than 2,000 men.

This had prompted them to send Dagmer Cleftjaw with another 7,500 men to help them out and hopefully arrive in time to prevent a slaughter of their troops. It had been too dangerous to warn the Greatjon and Prince Oberyn in person, as their dragon forms could be spotted from many miles away during daylight and they had not the time to search for them at night.

As soon as Prince Oberyn set foot on the island of Bloodstone, he knew that his gut feeling was right. As soon as their ships had been spotted, hundreds upon hundreds of men poured out of the great keep that rose above the harbor. However, these were not simple pirates in rugged linen clothes, these were what appeared to be professional soldiers in padded leather tunics reinforced with small bronze rings sewn onto it.

Rank upon rank of soldiers streamed out of the keep and from the harbor, where they saw a fleet of heavy dromonds laying at anchor, in addition to the hundreds of pirates that came running wildly towards them.

"Fucking eastern cunts," Oberyn could hear the Greatjon growl besides him and he couldn't help but agree. They were in for one heck of a fight.

To their surprise, the islanders allowed them to form up in a proper battle line before they closed for battle, the reason soon became clear though. Many hundreds of archers formed up behind the soldiers and as soon as they were in range, they unleashed a hail of arrows that came soaring through the sky towards them.

"TAKE COVER". The Greatjon bellowed next to him and all of their men ducked beneath their shields, if they had one, or else sought cover behind their comrades. The beach was completely devoid of any natural cover so the arrows found every hole in their defenses.

Cries erupted from all around them as at least fifty of their men were hit. The next salvo hit even more of their men and it soon became clear that they needed to reach their enemies' lines if they wanted to even have a chance at winning this.

"ADVANCE, QUICKLY." Oberyn bellowed to his men and he ran forward, followed by the Greatjon and the men who were able to. They left more than 200 wounded and dead behind when they left the beach, and even more fell during their advance. It was the longest 200 yards of Oberyn's life.

When they finally clashed with the front line of their enemy, Oberyn had already lost nearly 600 men. They broke upon the lines of the enemy like a great wave hitting the beach, despite their shining armor, the enemy were not hardened soldiers. The heavily armored knights in full plate steel were able to shrug off the arrows during their advance and now they brought the full strength and quality of their training and weapons to bear on their enemies. Steel clashed with steel, swords pierced bronze armors, heavy maces and war hammers crushed limbs beneath their blows, and all the while, the archers kept firing on the stragglers behind the frontlines.

Oberyn was in the middle of facing a trio of enemy spearmen, when one of them was suddenly hit in the back by a crossbow bolt. As the man fell in the bloodied sand, Oberyn was able to see across the enemies lines. To his confusion, but also great relief, he saw a large grim man, with long white hair and a great scar disfiguring his mouth, leading a host of Ironborn reavers and Dornishmen.

The second assault caught their enemies in the rear and now that they were forced to fight a battle on two sides, their lines quickly crumbled. The soldiers surrendered or tried to flee, but the pirates knew that there was no escape, so many chose to fight to the death.

A few hundred of the enemy made it back into the keep, and after locking the gates behind them, they manned the walls and prepared to defend against a storming of the walls.

On the field of battle, Oberyn and the man who had led the second attack stood face-to-face, not entirely sure what to think of the other until a loud booming voice interrupted their staring contest.

"I never would have thought I'd say this to a fucking Ironborn, but by the Old Gods am I glad to see your ugly face, Dagmer Cleftjaw."

Dagmer turned to the source of the voice and said with a smirk, "It's been a while hasn't it, still overcompensating for something else I see, _Great_ jon."

The meaning behind his words was obvious and the Greatjon turned red and made to strike at Dagmer, if not for Oberyn stepping between them.

"That will be enough of that for now. You two ladies can figure out who has the biggest cock, _after_ we have taken that castle." The Greatjon's only response was to huff in indignation and turn his back towards the other two while muttering curses under his breath.

Having succeeded to temporarily keep the peace, Oberyn turned to the castle and started to figure out a plan to take it, while his and Dagmer's men cleared out the pirates and remaining soldiers who had taken refuge in the villages or were attempting to flee by ship.

It took them less than three hours to hunt down the last of the pirates, who had been hiding in an artificial cave hidden under one of the docks in the harbor. In the end Bloodstone, more than earned his name, Oberyn had lost more than a third of his 7,000 men, and Dagmer's force had suffered an additional 600 dead and 200 seriously wounded.

When their remaining 10,000 men were gathered before the walls of the keep, readying themselves for a charge at the walls with a makeshift ram and rickety ladders, a horn blast was heard from one of their lookout posts on the eastern side of the island.

When they all turned towards the source of the noise, they saw a familiar silver-blue dragon flying towards them with great haste. The massive dragon landed before the keep and Aurora slid down from the saddle using the rope.

She removed her helmet before nodding to Oberyn and the Greatjon, and slapping Dagmer on the shoulder saying joyfully, "How did it go you old sea dog, where you in time to save the _noble gentlemen?"_

Dagmer replied with a smirk and said, "Aye, we were. They had already started the party without us, but what can you expect, after all they didn't know we was coming to help them out."

Aurora chuckled a little at the man's sense of humor, it was the exact same she herself had and it was the reason why she found his company so enjoyable. Turning to Oberyn she asked, "So how are matters going here, I see you are trying to storm the keep but I would like to suggest an alternative approach."

Oberyn shook his head, focusing back on Aurora and replied, "Well we have destroyed the main body of their forces, thanks to Dagmer and his forces, but a few hundred have retreated back into the keep so we will have to get them out by force. But if you know a better way that won't end in massive casualties, I'm all ears."

Aurora gave him a dark grin and said, "Just wait and see." Putting her helmet back on, Aurora marched to the closed gates and grinned to herself, 'Well, I guess it's time to quote Ghostbusters."

She reached the gates and said with a grin, "I came."

She took her axe in hand and focusing her power to it she set it ablaze with blood-red dragonfire, "They saw."

Striking the axe down on the middle of the poorly maintained gates, the wood crumbled instantly under the power of the strike and fire spread quickly to the doors, consuming them in seconds and opening the way into the fortress. "I Kicked their asses."

When the fires died down around her, she came face to face with the frightened defenders, who held their long spears with shaking hands and hid behind their shields.

Removing her helmet once again she stared some of the men into the eyes and immediately saw the fear within them. Speaking in bastard Valyrian, which she had learned how to speak through Rhaegar's memories, she said "Drop your weapons now, and you have my word that none of you shall be killed. Resist, and I will kill every last one of you."

As expected, all of the men dropped their weapons and fell on their hands and knees in surrender. Aurora whistled a single time to get Oberyn's attention and motioned for him to lead his men into the fortress.

The remaining 500 men were quickly taken prisoner while Aurora singled out one of their commanders for further interrogation.

Dragging the man apart, none to kindly, a sour smell told her the man had soiled himself in his fear and looking at him she saw he was on the brink of fainting. "Don't worry," she told the man, "I have given you my word that no harm would come to you, and I'll keep my word. You need not fear for your live."

The man seemed somewhat reassured but was still pale as a corpse when Aurora sat him down on a chair in a dark corner beneath one of the towers. "Now I want you to tell me everything you think might be important for me to know, like who are you, why are you here, where did you came from? And why in the Seven Hells would you put untrained peasants in shining armor against experienced veterans in heavy steel? What idiot decided that it was smart to leave the 'safety' of your walls?"

The man started to talk so quick that Aurora had trouble understanding him, so she had him stop and start over on a slower pace.

"We are from Port Yhos, a large town that was conquered by the great city of Qarth, about two decades ago. We were sent here as part of an agreement between Qarth and New Ghis, we were sent here to escort an attack force that would strike at King's Landing with the help of Ghiscari dragons, but they never came back."

"Yea," said Aurora while lazily scratching her head, "that would probably be because we killed all of them except one, who escaped with some very valuable prisoners. So I could hold you all responsible for aiding a devastating attack on the capital city of the Seven Kingdoms."

The man nodded fearfully before he continued his story. "The one who commanded us was injured during a training accident a week ago, and his replacement ordered us to attack. We had no choice in following his orders, and if we don't obey, the Pureborn, those are the rulers of Qarth, would destroy our entire town."

"And where is this so-called replacement?" Aurora asked darkly.

"D… d… dead." Stammered the man, "Slain in the battle by those savages who attacked us in the rear."

Aurora let out a deep sigh at the man's words before standing up and saying, "Thanks for your cooperation." Turning to a trio of Ironborn who stood nearby she added, "Put him with the others but treat them better than the pirates, they did not come to be here of their own free will."

The men nodded and quickly led the man away. Aurora lazily walked toward the main keep, where she was soon joined by Oberyn, and a bickering Greatjon and Dagmer. To her amusement, the two men were arguing about the size of their manhood, and who had the biggest. Apparently Dagmer had shown his to the Greatjon and the Northman was now arguing for the fact that, 'it is not the size that matters, but what you do with it'.

"If you ladies are done arguing, perhaps we could go and find the treasury, I am very curious to see what those pirates managed to scrounge up over the years." Both men looked slightly disgruntled that their argument had been broken up, but they followed her none-the-less as she made her way into the keep.

They entered a dimly lit tunnel that led into the stone of the cliff against which the keep had been build, and they followed it deep into the earth. Apparently, there were large natural caves on this island, as the caverns and tunnels were too large to be made by human hands. On the way, they encountered the occasional pirate who had sought his refuge in the tunnels, but they were quickly killed.

Following the directions Aurora had torn from the mind of one of the pirates, they finally reached a large heavy wooden door which was reinforced with thick steel bands. The doors were firmly shut and they wouldn't budge, no matter what they tried. After a few minutes Aurora, had had enough and said, "Get out of the way, if they won't bend, I'll break them."

The trio of men quickly got away from the doors and went to stand a few dozen ft behind Aurora. Turning to the door she did the same as she did to the stone wall on Dragonstone. She cupped her hands and made a bright red flame appear, before turning it into an inferno by blowing at it.

The blood-red flames licked at the door and immediately they started consuming the dried wood. The steel bands turned white hot very quickly and after only a minute or two, the remains of the door shattered under their own weight. The flames kept burning happily but Aurora doused them with her powers so that they could see what lay behind them.

The cavern that appeared before them was one of the largest they had seen so far, and it was filled with an incredible wealth. 4 decades of piracy had amassed a treasure to rival the wealth of a small kingdom. Mountains of gold and silver were piled in every corner, chests filled with silks, jewels and fine earthenware decorated with gold and silver were scattered all around them.

"WHO DARES TO BREAK INTO MY DOMAIN?" a voice suddenly roared throughout the cavern and they saw a large man, pale of skin, around forty years of age, bald and armored in full plate steel. The man was standing in front of an alcove in which they could just see the contours of a bed.

Aurora was not at all impressed by the man and said calmly, "We have come to reclaim the Stepstones for the Iron Throne and add the territory to the Seven Kingdoms. So who are you to stand in our way?"

The man roared in anger and spat, "I am the only king of the Stepstones. My father built this keep to ensure our house would have a safe place to wither the storms of fate. I am Haegon Blackfyre, son and heir of Maelys I Blackfyre, rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms."

Looking mildly impressed, not gaping in surprise like her companions, Aurora looked at the man with different eyes and studied his looks more closely. He had violet eyes, a rather large nose, small ears and a big scar on his neck.

"Well then," Aurora said dryly, "If you really are who you claim to be, then we have a little problem. You see, we fight for King Rhaegar, who now sits on the Iron Throne and we have no intention of letting anyone live who could try to take it from him. So, make your choice, die here, or be executed in King's Landing, I don't care."

The man was seething in anger and from his side he drew a large, hand-and-a-half longsword in his left hand, and a flail with two large metal balls, each on a separate chain in the other. The flail looked like a fearsome weapon, but it was the sword that drew their attention.

Its blade had a distinctive dark grey ripple pattern and the cross guards were both shaped like a snarling dragon head made of blackened metal. The pommel was decorated with a single egg-sized ruby and the handle itself was black leather wounded with silver threat.

Before any of the man behind her could react, Aurora said, "Get back, he's mine. That sword is Valyrian steel, none of your weapons stands a chance against that." The trio recognized the wisdom in her word and they stepped backwards until they were a safe distance removed from Aurora and the man who was now charging at her.

Aurora dropped her axe and drew the swords from behind her back before taking a ready stance and waiting for Haegon to reach her. This would not be a fight or the axe, as with it she could not block attacks from two sides at the same time.

With a loud yell the man swung the flail at her head as soon as she was in range and because she had left her helmet with Gabrielle, who was sleeping in the midday sun before the walls, Aurora was forced to dodge the swing as even with her healing powers, a direct hit from such a weapon would do immense damage to her face and could potentially kill her.

As she dodged the strike with the flail, Aurora attacked with her right sword, stabbing it at the man's gut, but he parried it with his sword and the sound they made when the two swords clashed echoed through the cavern.

Striking again, now with her left sword she thrust it at Haegon's right shoulder, in an attempt to disarm him but he saw the move coming and dodged it, retaliating with a strike of his own sword, which caught Aurora in the side but filed to penetrate her breastplate.

Over the next five minutes they traded a flurry of blows, neither really able to get the upper hand. it was clear that Haegon had received excellent instruction as he used his weapons with deadly precision. Only Aurora's super human reflexes allowed her to dodge most of his attacks and her armor neutralized the others. But she did receive a hit from the flail to her left hand, which dented the metal of her gauntlet and broke her little- and ring fingers. In return she had scored a hit on Haegon's left thigh, penetrating the steel of his armor, drawing blood and slightly hampering his movement.

After they traded a few more blows Aurora finally saw an opening, Haegon had raised his flail for a strike at her left shoulder, but at that moment he left his right side vulnerable. Quickly attacking with her right sword, she trapped Haegon's blade and stabbed her left sword into his right side, slipping through steel and flesh until it hit the back plate of his armor.

Haegon roared in pain and fell on one knee while dropping his flail, and sword and pressing both hands to the sword still embedded in his lower body. Aurora let go of the sword stuck in his body and grasping the other with two hands, she struck Haegon's head from his shoulders with a single swing.

With a grimace of pain Aurora dropped her sword and grasped her left gauntlet with the right and she carefully removed the damaged metal glove, careful not to further damage her hand. The last two fingers were twisted into an odd angle and she immediately saw that not only where the bones broken, but they were dislocated as well.

In the meantime, the three men had joined her and while Dagmer and Oberyn were inspecting the man's sword, the Greatjon went to stand with Aurora and looked at her ruined fingers. "Those are gonne have to be reset if they are to heal properly."

Aurora nodded and clenching her jaws she growled, "Hold my left hand in place." He did as she said and when he had a good grip, Aurora took a hold of her little finger and with a loud groan, she pulled on the broken finger to set the bones back in their correct place. After repeating the procedure with her ring finger the Greatjon released her hand and Aurora carefully stretched her finger to feel if they were back in their proper place, they were.

Picking the gauntlet up from the floor she put it back on to keep her fingers in the proper place before she picked up her sword from the ground and pulled the other one from its position in Haegon's corpse. After cleaning the blades with a piece of silk from a crate, she put the swords back in their scabbards and joined the others who were now all admiring the sword.

Clearing her throat to get their attention, Aurora held out her right hand and Oberyn placed the sword into it. As soon as she held it she noticed it, just like Ice, Brightroar, and Heartsbane, the sword had a feel of magic over it and she instinctively knew the swords name. "This is Blackfyre, the sword of the Targaryan Kings."

The other three stared in awe at the sword in her hand until she snapped her finger to get their attention and said, "This will remain under us, I will keep this sword until I see Rhaella again, she will keep it safe until Rhaegar is ready to wield this sword. Blackfyre was meant to be used by the king, and so it shall be again once the King proves himself worthy to wield it."

They all nodded, they knew the symbolism of this sword and the grief it had caused during the Blackfyre rebellions, and while Aurora removed the swords scabbard from Haegon's corpse and strapped it to her belt so it hung next to the short sword, the Greatjon picked up the flail and gave it a few test swings.

Apparently, he didn't find it completely to his satisfaction, as he handed it to Dagmer with the words, "Here, I think this is more your kind of weapon, and besides, these balls are definitely bigger than yours."

Dagmer ignored the insult but accepted the weapon with an interested expression on his face. He emulated the Umber's actions and gave the weapon a few test swings. After swinging it around a few times, he slammed the balls against the wall of the cavern where they left two small craters.

"I'm gonne keep this one," Dagmer said with a grin and turning to the Greatjon he added with a smirk, "This shaft is nearly as effective as my own, if what your niece told me is true."

With a snarl the Greatjon yelled, "SO IT WAS YOU WHO TOOK HER," before storming at Dagmer and punching him in the face with his right fist. Before he could hit him again however Aurora had seized his hand and twisted it behind his back.

The blow had broken Dagmer's nose and blood was pouring from the tip of his scar, which had been torn open by the force of the blow. While Oberyn helped him stem the bleeding, Aurora looked irritated between the two men. "I want an explanation and I want it right now." She growled out."

"That monster kidnapped and raped my niece." The Greatjon bellowed.

"I fell in love with his niece and took her with me to the Iron Islands where I married her." Dagmer replied whilst trying to not choke on the blood that still poured from his nose.

Aurora sighed and before she replied she grabbed Dagmer's face with her left hand and used her right to set his nose back in the proper place. Placing her right index finger before each hole, she sent a small burst of fire into each to sear the arteries and stop the bleeding.

When Dagmer stopped bleeding, she grasped his hand and dove into his memory to see what if what he had said was true. She saw Dagmer leading a raid in the North, capturing a pretty girl in the process and indeed taking her back to the Iron Islands. She watched as over time the girl's behavior changed and from hating him she started to fall in love with him. It had taken nearly a decade for the girl to get used to her new life, but now, thirty years later, she was running things at the islands as if she had been born there and had born Dagmer three sons and a daughter. All of which had reached adulthood and were leading their own lives.

Sighing again Aurora removed herself from Dagmer's memory and asked, "Where is she Dagmer?"

"I left her in Dorne with the other women and children. She didn't like it but I put her in command to make sure everything goes smoothly during my absence."

The Greatjon looked confused at their interaction and asked hesitantly, "Wait, so Alys is still alive and in Dorne?"

Dagmer nodded and replied, "She is. We are married and she is my second in command, we have four children and we are happy together. I admit that we had a rocky start, but eventually she opened up to me and now we love each other dearly."

"And he speaks the truth? Jon asked to Aurora, having witnessed her ability to see others memories during the trials.

Aurora nodded and said, "Yes, he speaks the truth but I suggest you ask Alys when you see her as you won't believe his word for it."

With a nod the Greatjon accepted her words and briskly turned away from Dagmer. While he walked back up the tunnel he said over his shoulder, "You can be sure that I will."


	16. Chapter 16

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 16

As soon as everything had been secured on Bloodstone, they made an overview of their losses. Envoys had come from the other groups who had taken the smaller islands with reports of their progress and losses.

"So what is the final count?" Aurora asked to the gathered captains and leaders.

"Taskforce 1 has lost 4 ships and 138 men," said one of the captains. "we took 5 islands on the southern side of the archipelago. We took 384 prisoners and captured 13 ships"

"Taskforce 2 took 4 islands on the western side," reported a second captain. "We captured 198 pirates and 12 ships. Our losses are 1 ship and 49 men."

"Taskforce 3 took 2 islands on the eastern side," reported the third captain. "We encountered a fleet of warships headed for Bloodstone, and were forced to engage. We lost 23 ships and 978 men, we captured 18 ships and sunk 32 more, over 1000 enemies surrendered to us.

"Thank you for your work captain," Aurora praised the man, "Please give my thanks to your men, if that fleet had reached this island we might not have been able to take Bloodstone at all. Were you able to find out where this fleet came from?"

The man nodded and answered, "We were, My Lady. Their sails carried the symbol of the Bleeding Tower of Tyrosh. It would appear that the Tyroshi got word of our intent to take the Stepstones and decided to aid the pirates. Clearly they didn't want us as their new neighbors."

Aurora got a calculating look on her face, of the 10 men around the table, only she, Oberyn and Dagmer knew of the original plan to take Tyrosh next, but now they had provoked a reaction by sending warships to fight them."

"All right men, I think you can all guess what we are going to do next. We cannot let such an action go unpunished, their attack on us was an act of war, so we are going to respond in kind. Give the men four weeks to rest and recover from any injuries they might have sustained, and in the meantime, Gabrielle and I shall pay a visit to Tyrosh on our way back from the Wall. We'll scout the city and see what we're up against.

Bring all the treasure from all the islands to Bloodstone and we'll divide it equally. Gabrielle and I will take 50% to pay the expenses for our expedition to Essos, the rest will be divided as followed, 10% will be given as tribute to the Crown, 20% will be divided between all those who took Bloodstone, and the remaining 20% will be divided amongst the rest. The shares of those who lost their lives will be given to their families."

She stood up as to leave when one of the captains said, "Wait My Lady. What are the losses on Bloodstone and how did it go on Gray Gallows?"

Aurora looked at Oberyn and Dagmer and they shared a few words until Oberyn spoke up. "Between us, Dagmer's force and my own lost 3,200 men dead and an additional 500 crippled."

Aurora nodded and then said, "And as for Gray Gallows, the forces of Gabrielle and me were already in control of the island when we arrived."

This was met with a round of confusion and surprise, as they were all of the impression that Aurora and Gabrielle didn't have any army to speak of. Finally, it was Dagmer who asked, "What do you mean, 'your own forces'? I thought you didn't have any military forces."

Aurora grinned wickedly and said, "No Dagmer, I said we _currently_ had no access to our own forces. Our vanguard was able to reach us, and is occupying Gray Gallows with 3,347 men."

The men around the table looked surprised and one of the captains asked a little hesitantly, "But My Lady, if your vanguard alone is over 3,000 men strong, then how large is the total of your forces?"

Aurora shrugged and said nonchalantly, "That depends on how many we are able gather. We have possible allies all over Essos and if we can gather all of them, we could theoretically have 100,000 soldiers or more, but I think half of that is a more realistic prediction. Many of them have families and homes of their own to defend so not all will answer. We shall see what we can do once Valyria is secured and safe for the time being."

She knew she was playing a risky game here, Gabrielle and her had talked about it extensively during their trip to Bloodstone and this was the most believable way to explain where all those soldiers came from. They would keep the former pirates on as their vanguard for the time being, though they expected most of them would not survive the taking of Tyrosh. After that they would look to expand their army, the Unsullied where the obvious beginning and so the first stop on their trip through Essos would be Astapor.

Acting on a hunch they had dispatched one of the freed knights from Grey Gallows with 3 ships and 200 heavily armed men to Astapor. They had 'slightly modified' the man's memory and he was now completely and utterly loyal to them. Unlike the former pirates, they really needed to find a better name for them, the knight was fully aware of who he was and what he was doing, in addition to still having his free will.

The knight, who was a baseborn hedge knight from the Riverlands, was named Ser Argyll Rivers, and he carried a letter from Aurora and Gabrielle to the Good Masters of Astapor. The letter said that they were interested in buying the Unsullied, but they wanted to buy as many as possible. They would arrive in four months, and at that moment, the more Unsullied they had to sell, the more they would pay for each Unsullied. This gave the Masters time to prepare and hopefully, buy back a number of Unsullied who had already been sold in hopes of getting a better price for them.

According to Rhaella, who had spoken with Varys on their behalf, Astapor was currently in the possession of roughly 12,000 fully trained and equipped Unsullied. They were hoping that by giving the Masters an advance warning, they would be able to raise that number by at least a few thousand. To prove to the masters that they were being serious, they had filled the holds of two of the ships with gold and other valuables to make a down payment on the total sum, the rest of which would arrive with them in four months.

If the price of 500 Essosi gold pieces, or 250 Gold Dragons, for one Unsullied was correct, and according to Varys it was, then Argyll had with him enough gold to buy 1500 Unsullied, thanks to the treasure they found on Grey Gallows.

Aurora was pulled out of her self-reflection by the Greatjon who slammed his massive fist on the table and roared, "SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU." Apparently there was a fight about to break out between the various captains about what percentage each of their men would get.

Aurora shook her head and said calmly, "My apologies for dozing off my Lords, unlike most of you I have not slept last night and I'm sure you will all forgive me for postponing this discussion until tomorrow, I really need to sleep for a few hours." The captains all agreed, not daring to say anything else, and Aurora added, "Please tell the men how pleased I am with their efforts, use the rest of the day to give our fallen a proper resting place. When that is done, have them celebrate our victory appropriately tonight. I expect all of them to be properly drunk when I return for the evening meal."

The Greatjon, Dagmer and a few others all cheered loudly at those last words, they may have their differences and personal conflicts, but they all liked to get good and properly wasted after a great victory.

Aurora walked out of the central room in the keep which had been named temporary war-room, and made her way over to where Gabrielle was dozing in the soft grass between the keep and the blood-drenched battlefield. After she climbed on her back, Gabrielle unfolded her wings and quickly jumped into the air before flying towards Sunspear which they reached fifteen minutes later.

They were awaited by the twins, Yara and Ashara, and to their surprise by Doran, who was seated in a large comfortable chair. The ruler of Dorne had made a remarkable recovery and he was able to stand and walk around for a few dozen paces, but for the time being that was all. Gabrielle had promised him that, if he kept to the exercises she had given him, then in a year or so he would again be able to walk like any other person, though running was out of the question.

"How did it go?" Doran asked politely after exchanging a few pleasantries.

"Could have been better," Aurora replied. "Most of the islands were conquered easily enough, but the eastern taskforce encountered a Tyroshi war fleet and lost nearly a thousand men before they could crush the enemy.

And Bloodstone more than proved its name, we lost more than 3,200 dead and 500 crippled on that island alone. Qarth had sent a fleet to help the attack force its ally New Ghis had send, that fleet proved more troublesome than expected. The 4,000 soldiers they brought added to the number of pirates greatly outnumbered our forces, so we sent Dagmer with another 7,000 men to help them out. Together they crushed the enemy but took heavy losses none-the-less.

"And what of my brother?" Doran asked calmly, though they saw a glimmer of fear in his eyes.

"Do not worry about Oberyn, Doran," Aurora replied. "He is a more than capable warrior and made it through the battle unscathed. He, Dagmer and the Greatjon are in command of our forces during my absence and I have faith that they'll manage just fine."

Doran nodded with relief and asked, "Then why are you here my lady? Should you not also be with the troops?"

Aurora shook her head and replied, "No Doran, we have come to get the girls and Saphirus and Violet, because we're heading North tomorrow. We shall head back to Bloodstone for the feast tonight, and in the morning we have a last meeting with the other commanders, but after that we are leaving."

Doran nodded but before he could say anything he was cut off by Lissena who asked excitedly, "Are we gonne see the giants?"

Aurora grinned at her daughter's excitement and nodded before saying, "We will try, if they are willing to show themselves and talk with us." All three of the girls cheered at hearing this, they had all grown up with tales of mythical beings that lived north of the Wall and the giants were amongst those. Now that they were actually going North of the Wall to search for them, they were all very excited.

The two little dragons, now the size of a large dog with wings, were happily jumping around in the water. Despite their remarkable growth speed, which Gabrielle had told the twins was thanks to the bond between the girls and the dragons, they were not large enough to fly great distances on their own. So on the journey south, the two dragons had hitched a ride on Gabrielle, clinging to the scales of her neck and stretching their wings in the wind.

They spent the afternoon with the children in the Water Gardens with Oberyn's daughters and Princess Arianne. Everyone was amazed when Aurora and Gabrielle, who had changed back to human form when they were out of sight of prying eyes, removed their armor and joined them in the water dressed only in silk smallclothes, panties and a strip of fabric wound around their breasts.

Having officially introduced the bikini to Westeros, other women soon followed their example and exchanged their loose fitting robes for similar attire as Aurora and Gabrielle.

Ashara was introducing Elia to the warm water under the close attention of the trio of girls. The baby was clearly at home in the water as she splattered around happily in the shallow pool. If Ashara let her attention off her for even a few seconds, Elia had crawled away to the deeper part only to be stopped by one of the girls.

For a few hours they enjoyed the sun of Dorne, which even in late autumn, still shone brightly, warming everything with its glowing rays, but eventually the time came to return to Bloodstone for the Victory feast.

They gathered all of their possessions, most of which were still packed due to only spending a single night at Sunspear, and the group of two women, one humongous dragon, three girls and one baby, said goodbye to their hosts. Doran and his wife were not really saddened by their departure, since Saphirus and Violet had managed to completely wreck the bedroom in which they had spent the night.

As compensation, Aurora had given Doran a purse with 50 gold dragons and a promise of getting Oberyn a Valyrian steel tipped spear, once the Valyrian forges were up and running again, so in hindsight, the Prince of Dorne had actually nothing to complain about.

The party said goodbye to Doran and his family and promised to give their greetings to Oberyn. Once all was said and done, they all climbed up to the saddle and Gabrielle flew off eastwards, with Saphirus and Violet once again clinging to her neck.

They made a quick stop at Grey Gallows, where they picked up a dozen of the former pirates. During their brief stay at Grey Gallows, after Aurora and Gabrielle had told them where their new soldiers came from, Ashara posed an apt question. "I don't want to sound presumptuous my Ladies," they were still working on getting her to call them by their names, "But exactly why have you chosen to employ these men? They are the worst sort of criminals, they are a forlorn cause."

Aurora suddenly snapped her fingers and cried out, "That's it." Seeing Ashara's confused expression, she elaborated, "We were looking for a new name for them as we kept revering to them as 'former pirates' which is not an ideal name."

"So…., how are you going to call them?" Ashara still didn't get it.

"The _Forlorn_. Because their lives have been forlorn up until now, and we have given them a last chance to do some good for a change. And as for why we have chosen them, we made them absolutely loyal, if we tell them to do something, they will do it no matter what." As to prove her point, she pointed to a passing member of the newly named Forlorn, and said. "You there, cut of your left little finger."

Without a word, the man drew a dagger from his belt, put it between his little- and his ring finger and cut of his little finger without flinching. He knelt down, picked up the separated appendage and offered it to Aurora while putting the knife back on his belt. Gabrielle calmly cauterized the bleeding stump on the man's hand by pressing a finger to it and burning it closed.

Seeing the shock and slight repulsion on Ashara's face, Aurora told her, "They are no longer people, Ash, we have removed everything that makes them a human being. They no longer have a mind of their own, they have no thoughts, no memories besides the ones we have given them, they feel no remorse, no pain, nothing. They are the perfected version of the Unsullied from Astapor."

Ashara looked even more abhorred by the mention of the Unsullied and Gabrielle decided to add her own piece. "Think about it this way, we could have killed them, but we chose to put them to some good use fighting for our cause. And this way, if they die in battle, we will not have lost any good people. For make no mistake Ash, taking Tyrosh will cost us lives, and thousands of them. Who would you rather see dying beneath those walls, some pirate scum fighting for our cause, or thousands of fathers, brothers, husbands and sons whose only crime is that they were unlucky enough to be caught up in the politics of kings?"

Being pressed head on to the facts of the matter, Ashara realized that they were actually making sense. Thousands of people died in war, and if those happened to be professional criminals with a long history of violence and other crimes, then who would mourn them. Better that they died instead of people who would actually be missed.

They gathered the men who would accompany them and scrounged up the best armor and weapons they could find, after what was left by those who had gone with Argyll, and dressed their Forlorn in heavy armor with full helmets and large axes, in their own image.

Once everyone was equipped to their, for now, satisfaction, they all mounted on Gabrielle, with the extended saddle offering just enough space to hold all 17 of them. It was a rather amusing sight, seeing them all seated one behind the other in a row over Gabrielle's back.

The three-and-a-half thousand pounds worth of passengers meant that Gabrielle flew a lot slower than usual, allowing Saphirus and Violet to keep up with her. The roughly 150 miles between Gray Gallows and Bloodstone took them nearly an hour, during which Aurora told the girls and Ashara what they could expect once they landed.

"I think that most of the men will be quite drunk already, or well on their way to becoming it. I want you four to take Saphirus and Violet and stay in the keep, until Gabrielle and I join you. The Forlorn will stay with you as guards and if you need either of us, just send one of them with a message."

The other four all gave their consent, they were quite happy to be kept away from the drunken revelry as they thought it could get rather rough, when Northmen and Ironborn got well and truly hammered.

When they finally landed before the keep of Bloodstone, Aurora's prediction was more or less accurate. A few thousand men were laying or stumbling about in a drunken stupor and the rest was either eating or like a few of the wiser commanders, kept themselves apart from the drink altogether, favoring water with their meal.

With a small grin Aurora noticed Oberyn, Dagmer, and the Greatjon, sitting together at one of the tables, they were passing around a large tankard and singing a song that was absolutely not fit to be sung in polite company.

Aurora quickly ushered the others into the keep, before any of the drunks could see Saphirus and Violet, and showed them the way to the large meeting room. She promised to send someone with food and drink, before saying goodnight to the girls. She took Ashara apart and gave her a small flagon while she whispered, "We have to avoid the dragons making a mess like they did at Sunspear, I will send a servant with two large pieces of meat, make sure they both eat one of those pieces entirely, put this on the meat, it is a very strong sleeping potion."

Ashara nodded in understanding and Aurora took her leave. In the twilight she remounted Gabrielle who flew off out of sight of any onlookers and changed back to human form, before casually walking back to the festivities.

They joined those of the commanders who were still sober, and after Aurora sent a servant to the keep with food and watered wine for the others, she pulled a half, roasted pig towards her. She drew a dragger from her hip and cut of two large pieces, one for herself and one for Gabrielle. Their very fast healing also ment that their metabolism was accelerated, allowing them to drink as much as they wanted, but never getting past the point of tipsy. So together they emptied nearly an entire barrel of mead.

As it got later and later, the atmosphere amongst the men became increasingly festive, despite the many losses they had suffered, they were all glad to be alive and to be able to enjoy good food and strong drink.

Their armor scared of most of the men, but a handful of the more drunken soldiers were making attempts to seduce either Aurora or Gabrielle.

To the immense amusement of Dagmer and the Greatjon, Oberyn was amongst that handful. In his state of drunkenness, he apparently forgot Aurora's warning and he promptly tried to kiss Gabrielle, while the other two were cheering him on.

His lips were less than an inch away from Gabrielle's, when he suddenly felt an excruciating pain coming from his groin and he was immediately shocked out of his drunken folly. Oberyn yelled it out from pain and when Dagmer and Jon came running, they saw that Aurora held his balls in a vice-like grip, while she hissed, "I thought I had made myself very clear, you are not to touch either myself or my wife. I will make an exception because of your current state, but consider this your last warning Oberyn, next time, I'll remove them."

She let go of Oberyn's abused scrotum and the Dornish Prince fell whimpering on the sand. Dagmer and Jon quickly helped their comrade back on his feet and carried him away, Dagmer muttering something about needing to find something cold.

The rest of the would-be suitors were effectively scared off by Oberyn's example and they were left alone for the reminder of the evening. They talked a little with some of the other commanders, mostly about inconsequential things, like their homes and their families.

When it neared midnight, Aurora and Gabrielle excused themselves to their company and made their way back to the keep. They reached the room where they had left the girls and Ashara without incident, and saw half a dozen Forlorn standing guard outside the door. The other six were sleeping in a room further down the hall. They would exchange watches at midnight, as Aurora had told them to do.

They entered the room without a word to the guards, who just stood still and spread out in a half circle around the door. They found the girls sleeping together in the only bed, and Ashara was occupying a comfortable chair with Elia on her chest. Saphirus and Violet were curled up before the fire that burned softly in the hearth.

Gabrielle removed her bottomless pouch and with the help of Aurora, they withdrew two large mattresses, filled with straw and covered by a thick layer of feathers. They put blankets on both and after had taken of their armor, Gabrielle carefully picked up Ashara and Elia, and gently lowered them on one of the mattresses. She covered them with a thick soft blanket, before she joined Aurora on the other one. Dressed only in their silk smallclothes, they cuddled close together and soon fell in a restful slumber.

The next morning Aurora was woken up by a long, rough, wet tongue licking over her face. "GAHH." She cursed while jumping up in disgust. "You little monster, never do that again."

Saphirus didn't seem to be in the least bit impressed by her outburst, even if it woke everyone else in the room, and was happily jumping around the room. Violet stretched herself out lazily before joining her brother and chasing him through the room. Being slightly smaller, while faster and more agile, Violet soon caught him and jumped on his back, causing both of them to crash into the table, breaking of two legs.

Aurora sighed and muttered, "Unbelievable, can't they keep anything in one piece." Silvana and Lissena hurried to the wreckage of the table and forcibly separated the two dragons. Saphirus made a last attempt to nip at Violet's neck, but at that moment Lissena turned away and Saphirus' jaws closed around her arm.

Lissena cried out in pain and let go of Violet, who immediately jumped on Saphirus and was now really trying to hurt him, in defense of her mistress. Saphirus had immediately let go of Lissena's arm, but the damage had already been done. More than a dozen deep puncture wounds were spread in two lines over her upper arm and they were bleeding quite severely.

Gabrielle hurried to help Lissena, while Aurora saved Silvana from the now seriously fighting dragons. She grabbed both of them by the base of their necks, and ignored the bites scratches they inflicted on her in their attempts to get free.

She partially transformed, changing her fingers in wicked claws, and pressed two of the claws between the scales on their necks. The pain that inflicted brought the raging reptiles back under control and after a deep growl from Aurora, they both lowered their necks in shame and went to hang limply in her arms, a sign of surrender.

Aurora dropped them and turned around, ignoring their pitiful cries of attention, showing them her back to punish them. She was the leader of the pack and they would have to learn their proper place, which was way below her and Gabrielle.

In the meantime, Gabrielle had cleaned and bandaged the wounds on Lissena's arm and she and Silvana were comforting her while she was crying softly from the pain. Ashara was nursing Elia, who was shocked by the noise of the fighting dragons and had started to cry. To calm her down Ashara had released one of the clasps that held her dress up and offered the milk-swollen breast to her daughter, who latched hungrily onto the nipple and started to suckle.

Saphirus and Violet had crawled away in a corner, realizing they had done something wrong and were keeping quiet until Aurora would acknowledge them again.

Aurora inspected her arms, both of which were covered in bleeding wounds from the dragons' teeth and claws, and muttered, "Bloody reptiles, I swear the others were never so much trouble."

"What others?" Ashara asked curiously, as she was sitting close enough to have heard her.

Aurora looked a little startled, she hadn't realized that she had said it out loud, and replied, "Ehh nothing, was a long time ago."

"I know you two are not human," Ashara stated matter-of-factly, "I noticed how you never see both of your dragons and you two at the same time, it's either you and the silver/blue one, or Gabrielle and the black/red one. Judging by your hair color, I'd say that both of you have the ability to change into a dragon."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle were completely flabbergasted, as was Yara at hearing the, in her eyes, impossible idea. "How long have you known it?"

Gabrielle's question caused Yara to go wide-eyed and when she looked at Silvana and Lissena, she saw two cheeky grins and Silvana whispered, "We were not allowed to tell you, but now you know anyway."

"I have had my suspicions since the beginning. Arthur told me about you and once I started paying attention, it was always just two of you, never four. And it was confirmed just now when I saw you change your hands into claws."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle looked thoughtful at that and Gabrielle said softly, "Well, that is something that can't be helped, and besides, the two of you knowing as well makes things a lot easier for us. "

In short order they all got dressed for the day, the weather had took a turn for the worse in the night and heavy rains were slamming into the island. They all put their thick winter cloaks around their shoulders, as they would keep the water out, and made their way across the courtyard and towards the large command tent before the gates.

They were met by the rest of the commanders and while they were breaking their fast, they continued the discussion that they had broken off the day before. Now that they were all rested, some better than others, it was done in a civilized and polite manner. Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon sat at the table looking more like zombies with blood-red eyes and pale skin, Oberyn was being very careful when he sat down, making sure not to put his legs to close together.

The girls and Ashara stayed out of the conversation and just focused on eating their own breakfast, day old bread, cheese and some dried meat. The twins were with their thoughts back in the keep, where Aurora had locked Saphirus and Violet in a small empty store room under heavy guard. They were to stay there as punishment until they were ready to leave, which could be a while if the rains didn't end soon.

The rain continued to pour down till well after noon, causing Aurora and Gabrielle to decide that they would take a little detour on their trip north. They would drop by King's Landing to deliver the news of their success and to present Rhaegar with Blackfyre, as Gabrielle had overruled Aurora's words. She told the others, "It is not ours to keep or decide when to give back. It rightly belongs to Rhaegar and so he shall have it."

When it was dry again, the small group gathered while Aurora gave her final instructions to Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon, now that they were finally sober again. "Have the men rest and recover from any injuries, before putting them to work reinforcing the islands. Have our ships patrol constantly around the waters outside of Tyrosh, avoid any mayor confrontations but have them resist any attempts to take the islands from us. Each patrol is to be at least 70 ships, and make sure that they are well equipped to take on any conceivable threat.

The Redwyne fleet will arrive in about 2 days, have a third of our available ships escort them all the way through the Stepstones and at least till they are past Tarth, we cannot risk losing that fleet."

The trio nodded and in the meantime Gabrielle had left the others out of sight before changing, and now she came back in dragon form to pick up her passengers. Just as the day before, it would be a tight fit with 17 passengers and two small dragons, but they would just have to make due. If necessary, they could always switch halfway.

They managed to reach King's Landing around midnight, the extra weight really did slow her down, and Gabrielle landed in the empty Dragonpit. They tiredly made their way to the Red Keep and were met halfway by Ser Oswell and two dozen gold cloaks on horseback. They came riding towards them on a furious pace and as he stopped before them he spoke a few frightening words.

"The Queen has gone in to labor weeks to early. She has lost a lot of blood and grand-maester Pycelle says he can do nothing but easy her pain with milk of the poppy."


	17. Chapter 17

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 17

 _They managed to reach King's Landing around midnight, the extra weight really did slow her down, and Gabrielle landed in the empty Dragonpit. They tiredly made their way to the Red Keep and were met halfway by Ser Oswell and two dozen gold cloaks on horseback. They came riding towards them on a furious pace and as he stopped before them he spoke a few frightening words._

" _The Queen has gone in to labor weeks to early. She has lost a lot of blood and_ _Grand_ _-_ _Maester_ _Pycelle says he can do nothing but easy her pain with milk of the poppy."_

Gabrielle spun in to action and pointing to the nearest gold cloak she barked, "You there, I need your horse." The man quickly dismounted and Gabrielle swung herself into the saddle and kicked her heels into the horse's sides. The animal shot away at a gallop and when she was gone Aurora didn't waste any time.

Turning to the other gold cloaks she said, "I need 17 horses, you guys can walk back."

Ser Oswell pointed at four of the men and said, "You, you, you and you, come with us. The rest of you dismount and return to the barracks you're done for tonight." The men quickly dismounted, not wanting to anger their superiors and handed their horses to Aurora's group, all of which mounted up, with Saphirus and Violet hitching a ride on the saddles of Silvana and Lissena. The Forlorn spread around them while they hurried to the Red Keep and formed a protective circle against any conceivable threat.

In their hurry they raced to the castle on a furious pace and Aurora yelled to the few people who were on the streets at the late hour, to get out of the way.

Barely fifteen minutes later they stormed through the gates to the Red Keep and Aurora yelled to Ser Oswell, "Where is the Queen?"

"The royal chambers." Came the panting reply and Aurora kicked her horse on towards the Holdfast.

Turning in the saddle towards the Forlorn she ordered, "Get my family to our chambers and keep them there." As one the Forlorn nodded and after dismounting, they wordlessly stopped the attempts of the trio of girls to follow Aurora. Three of the Forlorn grabbed them by the necks of their tunics, and dragged them, under heavy protest, to their rooms. Four others seized Saphirus and Violet who struggled against their captors but were unable to escape. And a subdued Ashara was following behind them, holding Elia and being escorted by a pair of Forlorn.

When Aurora reached the holdfast, she found Gabrielle's horse tied to the chain of the drawbridge, and tied her own besides it. When she entered the holdfast, she could already hear the cries of pain coming from Lyanna. She stormed up the stairs three at a time and within a minute she stood before the door to the royal chambers.

Outside the door were the remaining six members of the Kingsguard, who let her through without a word. What little she could see from their faces underneath their helmets clearly showed the worry she herself felt and at that moment an extra loud cry drew her attention.

"AAAAHHHRGGG." Aurora rushed into the room and found Lyanna lying in bed. The sheets around her were covered in blood and around the bed were Rhaegar, Rhaella and Eddard, who were all trying to comfort Lyanna. Gabrielle was on her knees, arms bare and feeling the belly of Lyanna with an extremely worried face.

"This is not good, this is so not good." She muttered softly with her fingers on Lyanna. Turning to Aurora she said grimly and softly so the others wouldn't hear her, "Someone gave her something to abort the baby, probably moon tea. And in a dose so high that it will kill both Lyanna and the baby, unless we do a cesarean."

"How far is she?" was Aurora's short reply.

"35 weeks, it will be a close call."

Turning to Rhaegar, Aurora growled softly, "Who in this castle has both access to moon tea, and access to Lyanna's food and drink?"

Rhaegar seemed to be confused but Rhaella answered in his stead. "Grand Maester Pycelle."

"And where can I find this Grand Maester Pycelle?" Aurora's tone was ice cold and only their limited knowledge about her and Gabrielle kept the others from shivering in fear of her tone.

"He should be in his rooms right now. He left fifteen minutes ago to pick up some milk of the poppy but he has yet to return. No doubt he is hampered by his old age."

Aurora nodded curtly and stamped out of the room, leaving the others in confusion until Gabrielle brought them back to the problem at hand. She turned to Lyanna and putting both of her hands on her belly, she sent a very powerful mental wave into Lyanna's body. The wave temporarily shut down every nerve it came across and allowed Lyanna to regain her conscious mind.

Gabrielle stood up and when Lyanna saw her she said softly, "You came, did you get our message?"

Gabrielle smiled a little sadly in reply and said, "No my dear, we didn't, we just happened to arrive in the city half an hour ago. I have some bad news Lya, you have gone into premature labor and if the baby comes now, it will die if it is born the natural way. I can 'help' the baby to be born, but to do that I will have to cut it out of you. It will do no harm to either you or the baby, and I promise that not even a scar will be left, but we need to do this now, or the child will die."

"Do it," was all Lyanna said and Gabrielle immediately went to action.

"Rhaella, get the servants to bring me, clean sheets, water, needle and threat." Rhaella nodded and went to the hallway, struggling with her own pregnancy which would hopefully last another two months, and called for her ladies-in-waiting.

"Eddard, help me get out of my armor." The warden of the North nodded and quickly helped her to remove the shoulder plates and then her breast- and back plates, followed by the mail. She took of the padded leather herself and finally went back to the bed in her linen undershirt.

She took out several of the knives from her boots and once the water had been brought, she quickly brought it to a boil and dropped the knives in them to sterilize them. When everything was ready, she told Lyanna to look away and picked up the first knife to start the procedure.

Aurora marched out the door and when she pulled it closed behind her, she turned to her right and said, "Ser Barristan, I want you to bring me to the chambers of Pycelle, and we are going right now."

When Barristan didn't immediately reply, but turned to Lord Commander Hightower first, Aurora snapped and grabbed Barristan by his upper arm while dragging him with her and growling, "I said NOW."

Barristan quickly realized it wasn't wise to disobey and he hurriedly ran away in the direction of the main keep, with Aurora hot on his heels. In less than five minutes, Barristan had led Aurora towards the rookery tower and to the maester's rooms directly below the rookery.

They could hear all kinds of things going on behind the door and turning to her companion, Aurora growled, "You can return to your duties now."

Barristan immediately turned around and hurried back to the Holdfast, he was not an expert, but he was sure that Aurora was going to do something un-chivalrous to the old man.

His hunch proved correct, as the moment Barristan had left the hallway, Aurora kicked the door open and she found the old Grand Maester, running around in his office gathering papers and bags.

"Going somewhere." Aurora growled loudly and the old man dropped the pile of books he was carrying.

"N… n… n… no." he stammered dimly while his eyes were fleeting around him to search for a way out.

"What have you given her?"

"G… g… given t… to… o who?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN THE QUEEN?"

Her lack of a helmet, having left it in the royal chambers, allowed her hair to fan out around her head in writhing flames and her eyes had gone pitch black with fury. Ruby-red flames erupted all over her armor and turned her into some grotesque representation of a walking, burning, block of spikes and steel.

Pycelle was now shaking in fear and the guards that had come running by the noise where scared witless by what they were seeing and fled. The heat that Aurora was spreading was scorching papers and tapestries in a fifty-ft radius and caused the guards to flee for lack of oxygen.

Pycelle had sunk to the ground, taking ragged breaths and unable to speak. Walking slowly towards him, Aurora removed her gauntlets and dropped them on the floor so she stood bare-handed before the old Grand Maester.

She grasped the man's head between her burning hands, causing him to cry out in extreme agony, and broke into his mind. She wasn't careful like she had been with Rhaegar, but only focused on getting the information she wanted, while inflicting as much pain as possible.

It wasn't long until she found what she was looking for. A memory of a raven delivering a message.

' _Grand Maester Pycelle,_

 _As you know my army is standing outside the city, you need to convince the mad king to open the gates so that my army can enter the city._

 _Tywin_ _Lannister.'_

And shortly after that another raven message popped to the forefront of Pycelle's mind.

' _Grand Maester Pycelle,_

 _I have safely arrived in New Ghis and have successfully made the first preparations for our return to Westeros. It will take us a few years to build up the forces we need, and during that time it will fall onto you to keep Westeros militarily_ _weak_ _._

 _Also, ensure that the pregnancy of the wolf bitch does not come to a happy end. I suggest giving her a lethal dose of moon tea and have it look like an unfortunate miscarriage that resulted in the death of both the bitch and her spawn._

 _I trust you will do what is necessary and I'll have new orders for you soon._

 _Tywin Lannister.'_

Aurora withdrew herself from the man's mind with murder written in her black eyes. When she removed her hands Pycelle fell on the ground, the pain too intense to keep sitting upright. The sides of his head, where Aurora's hands had been were blackened and you could clearly see the imprints her fingers had left in the bone of his skull, the flesh having melted away.

Having found everything she needed, she picked up her gauntlets and put them on again, before she went to the desk she had seen in his mind and opened the secret compartment in the middle drawer. Removing half a dozen small scrolls, she held them in her left hand while grabbing the back of Pycelle's robes with her right.

She dragged him through the halls, all the way back to the royal chambers and ignored the many stares she received from guards and servants. When she came back to the room of Rhaegar and Lyanna, she could hear a soft whining sound, that of a baby.

Handing Pycelle over to the Kingsguard, she told Ser Gerold, "Keep him in your sight at all times, that piece of shit is guilty of high treason, and conspiring with the enemy."

If Ser Gerold was surprised by her words he did not show it, but merely nodded before Aurora entered the room, the scrolls still firmly held in her hand.

She found Lyanna still lying in the bed with Rhaegar and Eddard besides her. Rhaella was holding a small squirming bundle wrapped in white sheets and Gabrielle was securely stitching up the incision she had made in Lyanna's lower belly.

"Did she make it?" Aurora softly asked her partner once she kneeled besides her.

"Yes," came the whispered reply, "And so did the boy. He is small and very frail, but strong, he's a fighter, and he'll pull through."

"Good." Was Aurora's reply before she stood up and went over to Rhaegar. "Rhaegar, I have something you need to see." She handed him the scrolls and as he read hem his face turned from confusion, to understanding, to fury.

When he was finished reading, Rhaegar crumbled the letters and growled softly, so Lyanna wouldn't wake up, "Where is he?"

"Outside the door, the Kingsguard is watching over him. We can deal with him later, right now you need to stay with your wife and son."

Rhaegar nodded and went back to Lyanna's side, softly stroking a lock of hair from her red face and kissing her on the forehead while she slept. Eddard looked down on the show of affection with a small smile on his face and his thought turned to his own wife and their newborn son Rob. It would soon be time for him and the rest of his men to return home. Most of the northern host had already marched back, but he would wait for the Greatjon and the rest of the Northern forces to march back with them.

Rhaella was carefully rubbing the back of the newborn prince to keep him warm and clean him up a bit. When Gabrielle was finished stitching up the wound, she rose up again and washed her hands in a bowl of clean water. Turning to Rhaella she said softly, "Put him on Lyanna's chest, her body will keep him warm and I have no doubt that the little one is hungry."

Rhaella did as she said and while Eddard turned away, Rhaegar removed Lyanna's shirt and Rhaella placed the newborn babe on Lyanna's bare chest. The little prince instinctively searched for the nipple and after a little help from his father, he found it and latched on to it hungrily. Rhaella covered him and his mother with a soft wolfs-skin to keep them warm and comfy.

After a while Lyanna woke up from the feeling of having the little one sucking on her breast and when she opened her eyes she found him lying on her chest. Her little prince.

Rhaegar whispered softly to her, "Thank you Lya, he's so beautiful, you both are beautiful." Lyanna sniffed a few times from happiness and whishing that her own father could be there to share this moment with them.

"How will you name him?" Aurora asked softly to the happy little family.

Lyanna looked at Rhaegar and after he nodded she said, "His name shall be Crown prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, but we'll call him Jon. After Rhaegar's good friend, Jon Connington."

Aurora nodded and said, "A good name for a prince, now if you would excuse us, it is way past midnight and I'm eager to get to bed. I'll dump Pycelle in a black cell and we can figure out what to do with him tomorrow."

Rhaegar nodded and when Lyanna asked what Pycelle had done, he said, "He gave you moon tea, in an attempt to kill both you and our child. Also, it was he who convinced the mad king to open the gates for the Lannister army. All on the orders of Tywin Lannister."

Lyanna's color drained from her face when she heard that the old man had tried to kill her but Rhaegar quickly added, "Now, you don't have to worry about that, Aurora and I will deal with him. You just focus on getting your strength back, you have lost a lot of blood so the best for you is to just rest and let us handle everything else."

The young queen nodded tiredly and let her head rest back in the soft pillow, quickly falling asleep.

Aurora helped Gabrielle gather the pieces of her armor and after putting on the mail and breast- and back plates, she helped her carry the rest of it back to their rooms, which were a floor above them.

Aurora left Gabrielle at the door, after handing the pieces of armor she was carrying to one of the six Forlorn outside their door. Followed by two others she went back to pick up Pycell and escort him to his new lodgings, which had been rebuilt after his master and his children had escaped them.

When she came back to the door to the royal chambers, the two Forlorn picked up Pycelle between them and dragged him away, while Aurora explained to the curious Kingsguards, "Those men are part of the army of Gabrielle and me, the Forlorn. We brought a dozen with us and another 3200 are waiting for us at Gray Gallows. They are part of the vanguard of our army, the rest of which will join us in Valeria once they are able."

Taking her leave from the knights, she followed her two guards down to the dungeons where they handed Pycelle to the care of the Gaoler Rugen who, despite his excellent disguise, Aurora recognized as Varys the Master of Whispers.

"Hello Varys," Aurora said calmly to the portly man who bowed in return. "Throw this bastard in one of your cells and give me every key to that cell. He is not to receive food, drink or company until I say so."

Varys bowed again and said, "Of course my lady, it doesn't surprise me that you recognize me, though it brings the opportunity to ask you a question."

Aurora nodded and replied, "Lock that scumbag up first and then we'll talk."

Varys nodded and let the silent guards to one of the cells on their right and took a key from his belt which he used to unlock the door. The Forlorn threw Pycelle into the cell where, at an order from Aurora, they cut apart his richly decorated red robes and left him naked on the cold hard floor.

Varys locked the door and then handed the key to Aurora, along with a second key he had taken from the gaoler's sleeping cell. He led Aurora and her guards through a secret tunnel that led to a small plateau, at the edge of the cliff on which the Red Keep was built. He motioned for her to sit down and took a seat himself, with his legs dangling over the edge.

"What did you want to ask me Varys?" Aurora asked calmly, though she had an idea what it was about.

"It involves your guards, my Lady," Varys confirmed her suspicion, "I must admit that I have never heard about them before. The first news I received about them was just now, when they suddenly showed up."

Aurora just looked at him with an unreadable expression and Varys continued. "I'm quite curious as to where they came from. As, if the number of 3200 I heard earlier is correct, then they sure are a force for me to keep an eye on."

Now Aurora allowed a little bit of her irritation to show on her face and she said coldly, "Consider this my first and only warning Varys, keep those little birds of yours away from my army, because I will kill each and every one of them I find. Gabrielle and I like our privacy, and that extends to our forces. Their loyalty is absolute, and cannot be bought by anything, so it is futile to try."

Varys nodded sadly and said, "I understand. I was afraid this would be your reaction. Though I must say one last thing, I hope you are right about their loyalty, because I am not the only one who has spies everywhere." And with those words he stood up and made to leave but at a snap of her fingers, the Forlorn blocked his way.

"I did not say you could leave Varys, so sit back down." The Master of Whispers did as he was commanded and Aurora continued. "Now I have a question for you. You say you have spies everywhere, then did that include Bloodstone?"

Varys nodded and replied, "Yes I did have one, but unfortunately it would appear that he was killed during your invasion, as I have not heard from him since."

"Did you know about Haegon? And don't lie to me, I have my ways of knowing when someone is lying."

"Yes." He replied after a little hesitation.

"Why did you not inform the king of this?"

Varys thought for a while before answering, "I heard about him shortly after Ser Barristan killed his father, Maelys the Monstrous. I decided to keep him on Bloodstone as a reserve, should the main Targaryen line ever die out. Aerys and Rhaella were childless and the realm needed an heir. I arranged for his upbringing and had him taught the ways of the sword."

"I killed him." Aurora stated dryly and Varys nodded,

"I expected as much. I warned him about the coming invasion and advised him to seek a safe haven elsewhere."

"You do realize that what you did was high treason right. You actively helped to raise an enemy of the crown and then warned him of a coming danger. Your warning is most likely the reason that we had to fight of a Tyroshi war fleet headed for the Stepstones. We lost nearly a thousand good men during that battle."

Varys again nodded and said, "I know, all I can say is this, I did what I did for the good of the realm. We needed a back-up should the Targaryens ever die out. If the line of Aegon the Conqueror ever ends, the realm will be thrown back into chaos and civil war. We need to avoid that by any means necessary."

Now it was Aurora's turn to be silent for a while as she thought about what he had said. " _What do you think sweetie?"_ she asked Gabrielle who had been eavesdropping on their conversation through their link.

" _We can't kill him. I understand why he did it and he is right. We need to avoid a civil war at all costs. I suggest we ensure that he doesn't keep any more secrets from us, but be subtle about it. I wasn't able to read him, so he may be immune to our telepathic 'meddling' I suggest trying to convince him through other means."_

" _You're right, as usual. I'll be careful."_

" _Try to hurry up would you, the girls are driving me crazy."_

" _I will Love, see you soon."_

Aurora turned back to Varys and said, "I understand why you did it and I'll keep silent about it. But I would like to know these kinds of things beforehand. So, in the future, please tell me about these kinds of things.

Furthermore, I would like to ask you to keep me and Gabrielle informed about anything that could be of interest to us. In exchange, you may ask something of us, anything and if we can, we shall do it for you."

Varys was quiet for a while before he said, "Your offer is tempting, and there is something that I want, something that only the two of you would be able to do without very much danger…."

"Go on…" Aurora encouraged him.

"I have managed to locate the man who is responsible for making me a eunuch. But so far, every sell-sword or assassin I sent after him has died. The man is a sorcerer of considerable power and I'm afraid I don't know many who would be able to deal with that kind of person. I even tried to send the Faceless Men after him, but they refused saying it was too dangerous."

"If we capture that man, and bring him to you without tongue to speak or hands to cast spells with, then will you inform us about _everything_ that your little birds tell you?"

Aurora's question caused another lull in the conversation until Varys nodded again and said, "Yes my lady. If you do that, then I will inform you about _everything_ my little birds tell me."

"Good, then I suggest this conversation never happened and I just happen to find a note with the location of that man handed to my guards before morning." Varys nodded a final time and Aurora stood up and turned around before leaving the small ledge followed by her guards.

She made her way back to the surface level of the Red Keep and then on to their rooms in the holdfast. She left her two guards at the door, where they joined the other four who had remained behind, and entered their rooms.

Nearly the moment she entered, she was hit full in the face by a heavy pillow and Silvana who yelled, "IT'S NOT FAIR. WE WANTED TO SEE THE BABY TOO."

Aurora calmly plucked the pillow from her shoulder spikes and dropped it on the floor before giving any attention to the kids. Luckily the dragons had learned their lesson for now and they stayed away from Aurora as much as possible. "Okay girls, I understand you three wanted to see the baby, but you need to understand something. The queen went in to labor more than a month too early, meaning that there was a very good chance that the baby would not survive. Besides, it is not beneficial for anyone who is in labor to suddenly be surrounded by a trio of hyperactive barbarians."

The girls were quiet as they thought about her words and with slightly red faces they realized that their behavior had been more than a little childish, even for their age. "We're sorry mom," Silvana and Lissena said as one while Yara mumbled,

"I'm sorry My Lady."

Aurora nodded softly and replied, "It is all right, but now you should get to bed. It is nearly three in the morning and I'm knackered."

The girls all said goodnight and went to their own room, they would have to share the beds but that was not really a problem as Silvana and Lissena did it regularly.


	18. Chapter 18

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 18

The next day just before noon, Aurora and Gabrielle were awoken by Ashara who knocked on the door, seeing as she was the only one the Forlorn would allow to approach the door. "My Ladies, the King is asking for you."

"Come in Ash." Ashara opened the door and with Elia in her arms, she entered the chamber, finding Aurora and Gabrielle still under the covers, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and sitting up in the bed. When Gabrielle stretched herself out, the blanket fell down, exposing her bare breasts and causing Ashara to blush.

Gabrielle noticed Ashara's color and said, "What are you blushing about, it's not like you haven't got a pair of tits yourself."

Ashara mumbled a little but Gabrielle ignored her and together with Aurora she got out of bed and they helped each other into their armor. "Would you please go and wake the girls, Ash. I'm sure they'll want to see the little prince as well." Ashara nodded and quickly entered the room of the girls, leaving the two women to get dressed.

They were just putting on the last pieces of their armor, when the girls left their room, followed by Ashara and with Saphirus and Violet besides them. The first thing both dragons did was scurry up to Aurora and Gabrielle and rub their necks against their legs, hoping for a little affection which they had not gotten since the previous morning. Aurora softly scratched Saphirus behind his head and Gabrielle did the same with Violet, making it known to the two dragons that their punishment was over.

When they were, all done, the twins put the collars on their dragons and attached the chains to them, while holding the other end in their hands. After a little hesitation, Aurora withdrew Blackfyre from the pouch on her belt and strapped it on her left hip, next to her own short-sword. As a group, they left their rooms and were immediately surrounded by all twelve of the Forlorn, one of which wordlessly handed a small scroll of parchment to Aurora.

Aurora put the scroll away, already knowing it must be the note from Varys, and continued on their way towards the royal chambers a floor below. When they reached the doors, they found them guarded by Ser Barristan and Ser Bartimus, who immediately let them in.

They found Lyanna still lying in bed with the baby Jon in her arms, while Rhaegar was sitting at a table in a discussion with his mother and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower. When they noticed the door opening, the trio at the table looked up and Rhaegar motioned for Aurora and Gabrielle to join them.

Ashara and the girls immediately went to the bed and Lyanna showed them the little one, while the two adults headed over to the table and took a seat. "I hope you had a proper night's sleep?" Rhaegar inquired politely and after they both nodded, he got to the meat of the matter.

"I have a report here from Oberyn, and there is a particular thing in it that I don't understand."

"You mean the Forlorn?" Aurora cut him off. And when Rhaegar nodded she continued. "The Forlorn are our army. If you want to know where they came from, then I'm afraid I'll have to ask Rhaella and the Lord Commander to leave, as this is not a simple matter."

Rhaegar looked a little apologetic to his mother and Ser Gerold, who took their leave without a word and left the room. Aurora followed them with her eyes until the door closed behind Rhaella and she turned back to Rhaegar as Gabrielle began her explanation.

"We _made_ them using the pirates we found on Grey Gallows." At Rhaegar's confused expression she elaborated, "Aurora and I can do much more with our minds than just talk with each other and exchange memories with others. We did the same as the Good Masters of Astapor, we removed everything that made them human, and replaced it with everything a warrior could possibly need to know. We made the perfect soldiers, who are superior to Unsullied, as they are not eunuchs and thus posses greater individual strength than the Unsullied. What takes the Good Masters about ten years, we can do in less than a minute, except for the physical part of course."

Rhaegar had the same appalled expression as Ashara had had when she heard where the Forlorn came from. And Aurora quickly interrupted any objection by saying, "Think about it Rhaegar, they are the perfect shock troops for the vanguard. They are nothing more than criminals and we could have killed them while taking the island, but instead we made them into something we can use. Something that will save thousands of good people from certain death before the walls of Tyrosh."

Just like Ashara the day before, Rhaegar accepted her words with obvious distaste, but he couldn't deny the logic in it. "I suppose this is one of those things you knew I wouldn't like, isn't it?"

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded and Gabrielle said, "Yes, Rhaegar, but there is more. After we had defeated most of the forces on Bloodstone, Aurora made her way towards their treasury, along with Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon."

"In there we found the self-proclaimed, 'Pirate King of the Stepstones'." Aurora went on. "I fought him and I killed him, but that is not what matters, what matters is that he was wielding this." And with those words she removed the scabbard of Blackfyre from her belt and placed the sword on the table before Rhaegar.

Rhaegar didn't immediately recognize the sword, after all he had only heard it described by Barristan and never seen it for himself, so Gabrielle pulled the sword a few inches out of the scabbard.

Rhaegar gasped as he saw the runes that were carved into the blade, just above the cross guard. " _Blackfyre_ ," he gasped and when he looked up at Aurora and Gabrielle he was shocked at the serious look on their faces so he asked, "What is it?"

It was Gabrielle who replied and she said, "The man who wielded this sword, was Haegon Blackfyre, son of Maelys the Monstrous, and we do not know whether or not he died without children."

Now Rhaegar understood their concern, there was no telling if somewhere there was a child of Haegon who would one day rise up and make his claim on the Iron Throne. "What do you suggest we do?" he asked, now sharing their concern.

"We continue as planned, with a few adaptations" Aurora replied. "Gabrielle and I take the girls and head north of the Wall to find the Wildlings and try to persuade them to come south of the Wall. In the meantime, our forces are preparing for the war with Tyrosh, we will visit the city on our way back from the North, to see what we can expect.

Also, it couldn't hurt to get a powerful ally in Essos, so we will visit the Sealord of Braavos and the Iron Bank to seek their aid in our endeavor, seeing as they too abhor slavery and have often fought the slaver cities.

When we began, we had 3,200 Forlorn, 18,000 Ironborn, 5,000 Dornishmen and 21,000 others, for a total of 48,200. We lost about 5,000 dead and another 3,000 crippled, taking the Stepstones, so that leaves us with around 40,000 men and 700 ships, including the ones we captured. Depending on the defenses of Tyrosh, it should be enough to take the city, especially if we can somehow draw their fleet out to sea and threaten to burn them to ashes if they don't surrender."

Rhaegar nodded in agreement but asked a little hesitantly, "Once you have taken Tyrosh, what will you do with it?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a meaningful look and when they turned back to Rhaegar, Gabrielle said, "That depends on whether they surrender or not. If they surrender, we will free every slave and offer them safety and freedom in Valyria. The Tyroshi will be spared but slavery will be outlawed forever and every slaver shall be adopted into the ranks of the Forlorn.

If they don't surrender, we will plunder and completely destroy the city, free the slaves and offer them a place in Valyria, and add the entire male population to the ranks of the Forlorn. The women and children will also come with us to Valyria and there we shall re-educate them to give them a new place in the world.

In neither of the options will there be any raping or wanton slaughter. We will give very specific instructions to our soldiers not to harm any non-combatants. The Forlorn will be the most likely to reach the city first, and they will not harm anyone we tell them to spare. So, they can keep an eye on the rest and make sure they do not brake our orders, as the consequences will be… severe."

Rhaegar nodded again and said, "Very well, you have my blessing to continue with the entire plan, but now that Tyrosh has provoked a war, it is no longer a cause for banishment if you take the city, so what are your plans concerning that?"

Now it was Aurora who answered and she said, "Once we reach Valyria, we will declare it an independent kingdom who owes no allegiance to any foreign country or person. This will allow us to publicly break ties with you, and Westeros, and also give a free choice to anyone who came with us. They can either stay with us in Valyria, or they can go back to Westeros. In any case, we can open trade routes between the two and hopefully both Westeros and Valyria will prosper from it.

We will spend a few years to build up our forces and outfit them to our own preferences, we can afford the time to do so, as we know Tywin will be doing the same thanks to his correspondence with Pycelle. With any luck, it will be 5 years before the war will start in earnest, and hopefully, Westeros will not be involved in any of it, though we welcome any volunteer who wishes to settle in Valyria and want to fight for us."

Rhaegar looked thoughtful at these words and finally he said, "What would happen if the Seven Kingdoms came under attack and you are on the other side of Essos?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a look and after a mental agreement, Gabrielle said, "If that should happen we will come, if we can, but I suggest you trust in the knowledge of Lord Randyll. He is by far the best military commander Westeros has to offer, which is the reason why we suggested you name him Master of Armies."

Aurora added to this, "We will take ravens with us, and we can send messages with the traders who will travel back and forth between Westeros and Valyria. You won't be completely alone Rhaegar, but you will have to learn to do things yourself if you are ever to become the king Westeros needs."

Rhaegar sighed and said, "I guess you're right. Well then, I suggest you head for breakfast, Lyanna and I have already eaten and I'm sure you're hungry. I suppose you'll be leaving after you have eaten?"

They nodded in confirmation and Gabrielle replied, "We are. We want to reach the Wall by the end of the week and we'll be stopping at Braavos before that."

Rhaegar nodded and after picking up Blackfyre, he carefully placed the sword on a standard that stood besides the one which held his armor. He next turned to the bed where the trio of girls and Ashara were still cooing around baby Jon and his mother.

Aurora and Gabrielle likewise stood up and after they made their way to the bed, Gabrielle asked, "How are you feeling Lya?"

The new mother replied with a tired smile and said, "Very tired and sore all over, but otherwise I'm okay."

"That's good to hear," Gabrielle replied, and after she removed her gauntlets, she carefully placed her hands on either side of Lyanna's still slightly swollen belly. She sent a small probe into Lyanna's body and made a 'scan' of her lower torso.

After a few seconds, she sighed softly and stood up before saying sadly, "I hate to break the happy mood here, but I have some bad news for you and Rhaegar. Pycelle's attempt on your life did more damage than I originally expected, as a consequence I strongly advice _against_ having any more children…"

Both Rhaegar and Lyanna looked shocked to hear this but before they could react, Gabrielle finished her sentence, "… for the next two or three years. This will allow your body to fully recover Lya, as right now, it is far too weak to be able to carry a pregnancy to term. I know I can't stop you from having sex, and I certainly won't try to, but I would advise to use some means of contraception."

At their confused looks, Gabrielle realized that they had never heard that term before and quickly added, "Use some kind of protection, but stay away from moon tea. I suggest using a condom." When she was once again met with confusion, Gabrielle sighed and muttered, "Honestly, why is it always these kinds of things that we need to explain." Before turning back to the young couple and explaining.

"You take a piece of washed and cleaned pig's intestine, about 1.5 times as long as your 'little Rhaegar', make a knot on one end and then pull it over 'little Rhaegar'. This will keep the seed away from Lyanna's womb, and allow you to have all the fun you want, but at the same time significantly reduce the chance of a pregnancy. Just be careful that it doesn't get off during sex, and make sure that Lyanna is properly wet, so the condom does not tear during the act. Also, throw it away and use a new one after every time, if you don't then it could still lead to a pregnancy."

Both Rhaegar and Lyanna were blushing heavily after that little lesson from Gabrielle, and a soft giggle from behind them reminded them of the fact that the girls and Ashara were also still in the room.

Now it was Gabrielle's turn to blush and Aurora laughed heartily along with the girls. Ashara hefted Elia a bit higher in her arms and suddenly Aurora got an idea. "Hey Ash, why don't you carry Elia in a piece of cloth tied around your chest, it would free your arms and keep her comfortable."

At this Ashara looked intrigued, she had never thought about it but it was definitely a good idea. Putting her thoughts into action, she went to a linen closet in the hallway and removed a large white sheet of 6 feet by 8 feet. When she was back in the room she carefully placed Elia against her chest, and Gabrielle folded the sheet double before wrapping it around Elia and tying it on her back, after winding it around Ashara's back.

"We'll replace it with a silk one once we get a chance to visit a market place." Gabrielle said after making sure the cloth wasn't tied to tightly. Turning to the girls she said, "I think it is time for breakfast girls, so say goodbye to the little prince, as we're leaving directly afterwards."

The girls all said their goodbye's to Lyanna and little Jon, while Rhaegar joined them out of the room. He needed to find his mother and Lord Commander Hightower to continue the discussion they had broken off when Aurora and Gabrielle had requested their departure.

When breakfast was over with, the group made their way back to the Dragonpit from where they once again mounted the saddle on Gabrielle and she flew off northwards in the direction of Gulltown, from where they would cross the Harrow Sea.

A short distance away from King's Landing, between Duskendale and Maidenpool, Gabrielle landed between a few hills out of sight of anyone and they all got off of her back. After Aurora, had shown Ashara and the girls how to properly put on the saddle, she removed a second one from a pouch on her belt and changed into her own dragon form.

They were not going quickly enough with Gabrielle bogged down by the number of passengers, so they had deiced to divide the load between them. When Aurora's saddle was properly in place, ten of the Forlorn took a seat on it, while the rest of them retook their place on Gabrielle.

With the both of them in the air, they were able to make much better time and when twilight arrived, they had reached Gulltown. Deciding to cross the Narrow Sea before they rested for the night, Aurora and Gabrielle turned north-east and continued their journey over water.

They reached the mountains surrounding the great city of Braavos an hour after midnight, and they finally landed for the night. Aurora and Gabrielle set themselves down on a small deserted island, roughly 15 miles south of the great Titan of Braavos.

Rather than changing back, Aurora and Gabrielle just curled up around the others, to protect them from the rain that had started pouring down shortly before they landed. Gabrielle spread one gigantic wing over the hollow between their immense bodies and the others all ate something before they themselves turned in for the night.

The next morning came but thanks to the thick wing covering them, the 16 humans sleeping beneath it didn't notice it. By noon they were suddenly, and rather rudely awakened by a hail of arrows clattering against the thick scales covering Gabrielle's left flank.

Wondering who was so rude to wake them up, Gabrielle turned towards the source of the noise and saw a trio of galley's lying at anchor before the island. Banks of archers were spread out on the decks of the galley's and they were preparing to release another volley at the two dragons.

As the archers loosened their arrows, Gabrielle almost lazily spit out a burst of clear blue fire and incinerated the cloud of arrows, along with the sails of the nearest galley. Deciding to end their rather rude awakening, Gabrielle stood up and with Aurora besides her, the two dragons turned to the trio of ships.

The sails of the ships showed two crossed swords beneath a crowned golden skull, and they saw many of the men on the nearest ship busy with putting out the many fires that had sprung up on the deck, or otherwise were trying to ditch the burning sail, without it falling on the deck.

Both dragons made their way towards the shoreline and lowered themselves into the water. Opening their mouths, they each took a great gulp of water and spit it out on the burning sail. Dousing it and many of the smaller fires. Taking a second gulp of water, they targeted the crews of the ships and sent them sprawling into the water.

Once most of them were in the water, Gabrielle and Aurora changed under water and climbed on board of the nearest ship. Knocking out and 'recruiting' every pirate they encountered, they made their way through the ship and soon had about 80 new soldiers under their command.

They next jumped over to the other two ships and did the same thing with those men. All those who were picked up out of the water, where likewise treated and by the end, they had gained two war galleys' in prime condition, one war galley, with a reasonable amount of damage, and 349 new soldiers.

When everything was done, they ordered the Forlorn to beach the ships, so they could give them a little make-over before they sailed towards Braavos. It might not be the best idea to sail into the homeport of the greatest naval power in the world, on three clearly recognizable pirate galleys'.

During the day, the Forlorn worked hard to strip the ships of everything that made them stand out as pirate ships. Using the dye they found in the hold of one of the ships, clearly they had captured a ship coming from Tyrosh recently, they painted the sails in a different color. The sail of the ship they had set on fire was completely lost, but using some spare lengths of sailcloth, they fashioned a temporary sail for the damaged ship.

The sails were now pitch black, with a yellow (by lack of gold), large circle of linked chains surrounding a dragon skull. When Ashara asked them why they had chosen such a design, Aurora said, "It is the coat of arms of our house, House Valaris and a sigil that will soon instill fear into all of our enemies."

During the time that the Forlorn were working on the ships, Ashara and the girls were embroidering the newly revealed sigil of house Valaris on the dresses Silvana and Lissena would have to wear during their audience with the Sealord and the Iron Bank. Ashara would wear her own dress with on the bodice the crossed sword and falling star of house Dayne. For Yara they had bought a dress in King's Landing that depicted the kraken of house Greyjoy.

It had amazed the girls and Ashara how much Aurora and Gabrielle had hidden in their pouches. When they had started to withdraw large black banners proudly displaying their sigil in fine golden embroidery, Ashara had been unable to contain herself and had asked, "Exactly how much have the two of you hidden in those bags?"

Their only reply had been to grin mischievously and Aurora had said, "That is for us to know and for you to find out. Let's just say that they hold everything we might possibly need. We have done quite some shopping during the last few months."

"With who's money?" was Ashara's counter.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle burst out laughing at that and Gabrielle finally managed to say, "Let's just say that the late High Septon was a living a _very_ comfortable live."

"You stole from the Faith?" Ashara asked dumfounded, she had known of the extreme dislike her companions held against the Faith but she had not expected them to go this far.

"No," Aurora smirked, "We just took back what they had stolen from the people. You can't convince me of the necessity of having solid gold plates and cups, while the people outside your doors are starving. We sold everything and held half the profits for ourselves. The other half we used to buy the tents and everything else that was needed to house the people that had lost everything during the sack."

Ashara softly shook her head and muttered, "Unbelievable," while the trio of girls were grinning softly. All three had an immense dislike of the Faith and were more than pleased to hear what Aurora and Gabrielle had done to punish them. After the deaths of the High Septon and the Most Devout, the imprisonment of every septon and septa in King's Landing and the surrounding area, and the confiscation of everything of value, the Faith had been is disarray. Added to that the public conversion of Rhaegar to the Old Gods, and many in King's Landing had chosen to follow him. New Weirwood trees had been planted in the city and more than one of the smaller septs had been torn down to make place for them.

Most of the septons and septas had been released after they were interrogated, but a fair number, all of those who had known about the Faith Militant or who had helped the High Septon and the Most Devout, were sentenced to death. Just to rub a little salt in the wound, Aurora had personally executed nearly half of them, on the stump of an old weirwood, which they had found on one of their trips to a distant keep in the North.

The banners they had planted on the bow and stern of the ships and after making a cut-out of their sigil, Aurora had put a duo of Forlorn to work at painting it on every shield they could find.

The work took the entire day and part of the next morning, but around noon they were finally ready to sail the last part towards Braavos. Everyone took a bath, initially the girls and Ashara were a bit uncomfortable to just bathe in the water of the ocean, especially with over 350 men walking around. However, when they noticed that none of the Forlorn even looked at them they quickly lost their apprehension.

Aurora and Gabrielle didn't give a single thought to the Forlorn and just undressed in full view of everyone. Initially Ashara was very uncomfortable with seeing the naked bodies of Aurora and Gabrielle, especially with the now fully revealed extent of their jewelry. In addition to the rings in their bellybutton's, their nipples and around their privates, they each had a long row of small rings in each ear.

When Ashara finally got over her embarrassment she asked, blushing heavily, "Is there a reason for all those rings in your bodies?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared an amused look before they burst out laughing. When they had stopped laughing Gabrielle said, "Some of them do have a meaning behind them Ash. Everything below our necks is purely for personal pleasure, the ones in our ears are marks of life. Each ring stands for an important event in our lives. Some are for important victories in battle, others are to commemorate personal losses, and again others are joyful occasions in our lives."

Ashara nodded thoughtfully and said, "It's an interesting idea, it certainly helps to remember those events and…"

At that point she was interrupted by Silvana and Lissena who said at the same time, "I want that too."

Aurora and Gabrielle both looked with raised eyebrows at their daughters and Aurora asked, "You want, what, too?"

"Those rings in our ears, they're pretty." Replied Silvana, "And I know two very important events that we can use for those, or actually three." That last part was added a little sadly.

Lissena nodded and started counting on her fingers. "1, the hatching of Saphirus and Violet. 2, you two adopting us. And 3, the deaths of our old family." Both girls got a little teary-eyed as they thought about their birth mother and their brothers.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle smiled softly and Aurora said, "We'll think about it ok."

The twins nodded and they all continued to wash themselves, passing around a bar of rose-scented soap. Aurora and Gabrielle helped each other with washing their long hair, each taking their time to massage the soap into her partner's silken locks.

When they were all cleaned up, they each dressed in their designated clothes, Ashara and the girls in their dresses and Aurora and Gabrielle in their armor. Their armors had been updated with a black tabard, proudly displaying their sigil in fine golden embroidery, the same as on their banners.

When they were all prepared, they boarded the ships, which had been pushed back into the water with the flood, and they set sail towards the Great Titan, which held the gateway to Bravos between its legs.


	19. Chapter 19

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 19

As they sailed underneath the great statue of the Titan of Braavos, two hours after noon, the great statue roared, a sound that could be heard in the farthest reaches of the city. There was not enough wind in the lagoon, to properly propel their three ships, so the Forlorn manned the oars and with a perfect synchronism, they ploughed the oars through the water.

As they passed the Great Arsenal, half a dozen warships intercepted them and orders were shouted across the water. "Prepare to be boarded, all ships coming into Braavos must submit to a search."

At a word from Aurora, all three ships dropped their anchors and the oars were pulled out of the water. They calmly waited for the Braavosi ships to reach them and once they did, Aurora had the Forlorn signal the other ships to come aboard her own, and they did so.

A rope ladder was lowered from the side of their ship and a trio of guards climbed onboard first, followed by two officials and a second trio of guards. They were met by Aurora and Gabrielle, who struck an awe-inspiring sight, standing there in their armor and surrounded by the twelve axe-wielding Forlorn they had brought from Gray Gallows. Ashara and the girls were standing behind them and looked a little nervous. Saphirus and Violet had been locked up below decks, to their immense displeasure, but they had been given a sedative by Gabrielle to keep them quiet for the time being.

Aurora and Gabrielle took of their helmets and inclined their heads toward the officials, who bowed in return and Gabrielle said, "Good afternoon gentlemen."

The two men returned her greeting and one of them said, "Welcome to the great city of Braavos, what is the purpose of your visit?"

"We have come to meet with the Sealord and the Iron Bank, to discuss a very lucrative business proposal." Aurora replied. "Also, one of our ships was damaged during a fight with pirates, we wish to have it repaired during our stay in your city."

The men bowed and one said, "Do you carry any trade goods with you?"

Both Aurora and Gabrielle shook their heads and Gabrielle replied, "No, what we carry on board is for our own use. All we have is food and building supplies."

The man nodded and said, "Would you mind if we checked it? For you seem very heavily armed for a simple delegation."

"By all means," Gabrielle invited them, "but be careful not to make too much noise, we carry a pair of wild animals on board who are rather ill-tempered. We have given them a sedative but best not to wake them unnecessary." The two men nodded and followed by three of their guards, they made their way into the hold of their ship.

After about fifteen minutes, the men returned and one of the officials said, "Everything is in order My Ladies, I trust that the other two ships carry similar cargo?"

Gabrielle nodded and Aurora said, "That is correct, sir. If I might ask a question?" the man motioned for her to return and she continued. "As I already said, one of our ship suffered damage during a fight with pirates, we would like to get it repaired but we don't know where we can do that. I see great wharves on that fortress there, but are they strictly military wharves, or do you also repair other vessels there?"

"An apt question," the man replied. "They are indeed military wharves, but they also repair other vessels so if you want to make use of the facilities there, I will personally make sure that your ship is repaired to your own specification."

Aurora nodded in thanks and replied, "That is very kind of you sir, we would indeed like to make use of your offer. We need new sails, new railings, a new deck, and all the rope work needs to be replaced. Also, if possible, we would like to get all three ships to receive a new coat of tar, as we will be doing a lot of traveling in the future and we would like to make sure our ships are all in prime condition."

The man nodded and said, "Of course, my Lady. The docks on the right side are used for repairs, so if you want, you can moor your ships there and we will see to the rest. I can arrange for a ship to take you to the Sealord's palace. Your crews can stay here if you want, as long as they don't cause trouble."

"No worries sir, our men are superbly trained and well disciplined. If you show them a place where they can stay, I'm sure they will find a way to entertain themselves without bothering anyone." Gabrielle's reply satisfied the two officials and they returned to their own ships, while Aurora gave the order to raise the anchors and to row towards the arsenal.

They rowed the ships into three long basins, and the ships were secured with strong ropes to prevent any movement. When they were secured, everyone left the ships, including Saphirus and Violet who had been put into two large cages which were covered by large pieces of sailcloth.

Once they were all of, the Braavosi shipbuilders surprised them all by closing two large doors at the end of each basin. They next revealed primitive pumps, each one manned by four men, who pumped the water out of the basins allowing free access to the normally submerged parts of the ships. Thick stands were pushed underneath the hulls to offer extra support and prevent any tipping which could lead to dangerous situations.

"That's interesting," Aurora murmured to Gabrielle, "I did not think they had already built pumps, this means we can actually do a lot more with our navy then we originally thought." Gabrielle nodded in silence and soon they were met by the official they had met on the ship.

"Ah good, you are ready," The man said before leading them and the Forlorn to a large courtyard. "Your men can stay here during their stay. Barracks are on the left and lavatories on the right. As long as they don't bother anyone, they are free to do as they wish.

Aurora nodded and turned to the Forlorn. "Stay here, and use the time you have, for training." As one the 349 Forlorn stood straight and saluted, before they went to the large open portion of the field and started to do a wide array of exercises. Ranging from push-ups, to sprinting, and hand-to-hand combat.

The Braavosi was clearly impressed by their discipline and said, "They are indeed superbly trained. I'd almost think they are Unsullied, but that is not possible as none of them are eunuchs. I hope they are not slaves though, as slavery is outlawed in Braavos."

"Don't worry sir, Aurora replied, "They are not slaves, just very well trained and disciplined. We have saved them from a life of slavery and hardship, and given them a new purpose in life. They are under contract for a set duration, and after that, they are free to go wherever they want. But most choose to serve for life, as we pay them very well." The small lies flew easily from her tongue and she did not feel guilty about it.

The man nodded and let Aurora, Gabrielle, Ashara, the girls and the 12 guards, who carried two litters which held the cages of Saphirus and Violet, towards a different part of the Arsenal where they all boarded a large barge.

The man left them on the ship and said, "This boat will take you to the Purple Harbor, the Sealord's palace is only a short distance from there. The work on your ships will probably take the rest of this day and part of tomorrow. If you want we'll feed your men, or they can get supplies from the ships, depending on your preference."

Gabrielle replied saying, "Please see to it that they are fed, we'll pay for it tomorrow, along with the costs of your work on our ships."

The man nodded in agreement and the crew of the barge picked up two dozen oars and started rowing them towards the city proper. After half an hour, they reached a large harbor which lay in the shadows of an immense palace. The captain of the barge told them that that was the Sealord's Palace, and they docked on a pier close to the entrance of the palace.

Their group left the barge and after Gabrielle tipped the captain a gold piece she said, "Thank you for your work captain, please buy your crew a drink on me." The man tipped his hat in thanks and the barge returned to the Arsenal while the group turned towards the palace.

During their short walk to the palace, their group drew a few curious looks, mainly because of Aurora and Gabrielle, who were wearing their helmets and towered above most Braavosi in their awe-inspiring armor. At the gates of the palace they were stopped by two ranks of fifteen men. Each man was dressed in flamboyant clothing and armed with slender swords used to thrust instead of the broadswords made for slashing and hacking which were common in Westeros.

"State your name and the reason for your visit to the Sealord's Palace." One of the men said and as Aurora was about to answer, she unconsciously put her hand on the short sword on her hip.

Immediately four of the men before them drew their swords and cried out, "I accept your challenge."

With a look of confusion and surprise hidden by her helmet, Aurora turned to the captain and asked, "Ehh, what challenge are they talking about sir?"

"Are you unfamiliar with the practices of the Bravos Ser?" the man said with a small grin and when Aurora nodded, ignoring the misconception of her gender, he explained. "When in Braavos, if you wear a sword on your hip and you touch it while meeting a Bravo, it is considered a challenge to a duel."

"Ehh, so those four men want to fight _me_ , just because I put my hand on my sword?" the man nodded and Aurora asked, "What are the rules of such a duel?"

"Usually to the death, or until one of the contenders is no longer able to keep fighting. Also, the winner gets all the possessions of the loser. No doubt your armor had drawn their greed Ser, it is obviously of the finest make and would fetch quite a price if sold to right person."

With a dark laugh, Aurora said, "Very well, I will accept your challenge, but I would like to request the presence of the Sealord during the fight." The captain bowed and said, "No doubt that can be arranged, Ser, the Sealord is known to be fond of duels."

"Very good. Then is there a special place for such a fight, or do we do it just here on the street."

"No Ser, the Sealord has had a special arena constructed for these kind of duels, we will relocate to that location for the duel."

Aurora nodded and with a gesture of her hand, she indicated the captain to lead the way, which he promptly did after sending one of his men towards the palace, presumably to inform the Sealord.

They were led to a small arena; the dueling area was roughly 50 feet across and five rows of seats surrounded it. A small group of Bravo were already in the arena, fighting with training swords and they stopped when they were led into the arena.

"Men, please prepare the arena for a duel, we have several challenges to fight out." The bravos all cheered at the captain's words and they hurried to clear the fighting area of anything that could interrupt the duel.

Gabrielle and the rest of their group calmly sat themselves down on the lowest ring of seats, while Aurora went to the captain and asked about the rules of engagement. "Excuse me captain, but exactly what are the rules of combat? Is everything allowed or are there special rules that need to be followed?"

The captain laughed and said, "Ser, it is a duel to the death, there is only one rule, if you die, you lose. You can use whatever weapon you prefer, and use it in any way you see fit. The exception is ranged weapons as they offer an unfair advantage."

Unseen to the captain, Aurora grinned beneath her helmet and asked, "Is it one-on-one, or can I fight them all at once?"

With a slight raise of his eyebrows, the captain asked, "You want to fight all four of them simultaneously?"

Aurora nodded and said, "Yes, and if you can find any more volunteers who want to try their luck, let them, it's been a while since I fought a proper melee."

The captain looked a little disbelieving but after a muttering of, "It's your funeral." He went to his men and asked if there were anymore who wanted to try their luck against the unknown 'Ser'. Turns out, 13 more were eager to risk their own lives so Aurora found herself facing 17 Bravos in the duel.

Soon a second group came from the direction of the Palace, this one led by a tall man dressed in blue leggings and a brown leather vest. The vest was open and it showed his bare chest beneath, which was rippled with muscles and had a long scar going from his left collarbone across his chest and disappeared under the right end of his vest.

The man who walked behind him had a thick bush of dark brown hair and wearing beige pants, a blue shirt and a brown vest. He had a similar sword on his belt as the other Bravos and his bearing told Aurora that he was a lot more capable in combat than his amateurish and overconfident brethren.

When the new group had arrived, the man in charge introduced himself to Aurora. "Greetings brave Ser. My name is Ferrego Antaryon, Sealord of Braavos." indicating the other man, who had taken to stand on his right, he added, "This is my chief protector and the current First Sword of Braavos, Syrio Forel."

The now named Syrio Forel made an elaborate bow and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, 'Ser,' I am sure this duel will be one to remember." The tone on which he used the word, Ser, made it clear that he knew she was not in fact a man. "I must say I am quite impressed by the axe you wield, perhaps a demonstration would be fair to my fellow Bravos, as they have never fought such a weapon before."

Aurora nodded silently and turned around in search of an object to use. Her eyes fell upon a bench which had been made of a thick tree trunk which was split in half. The tree had been two feet in diameter and was split clean through the middle. Without any visible strain, Aurora picked up the bench, which must have weighed at least 500 pounds, and sat it upright.

Taking her axe in hand, she took a ready stance and then raised the axe for a strike. Striking from over her right shoulder, Aurora hit the split log at an angle and the hard wood splintered under the force of the blow. The axe went clean through the log and the two separate halves dropped on the ground of the silent arena.

Slamming her axe into the sand of the arena, Aurora picked a piece of the log from the ground and taking it in her left hand, she sliced at it with the knuckle spikes of her right gauntlet. The spikes left a deep incision in the wood and Aurora pressed her fingers in the incision. Grabbing it in both hands, she tore the piece in two and threw them at the feet of the awestruck Sealord.

"If any of your men want to reconsider their challenge, then now is the time to do so." Aurora's casual remark echoed through the silent arena until the Sealord regained his bearings.

"That was most impressive Ser, and unfortunately I must insist that all of your challengers recall their challenge. I do not wish to lose 17 good men over this." Most of his men obeyed, but five refused to reconsider and insisted to fight it out. Aurora's only reply was to shrug and step into the ring, leaving her axe standing in the sand.

The five challengers entered the ring on the opposite side and all took a ready stance. Aurora waited for them to make the first move, which came swiftly. The two men on either side circled around until they were spread out evenly around her and moved carefully forward. Even though she had left the axe outside the ring, she was still heavily armed.

The two men behind her moved as one and thrust their blades directly into Aurora's back, but their thin blades simply snapped of when confronted by the inch-thick Dragonforged steel of her backplate. Turning around, Aurora grabbed the one on her left by his throat while completely ignoring the others. The man in her hands trampled and managed to land a kick to her groin.

"That was rude," Aurora remarked coldly, before slamming her right fist into the man's face. The knuckle-spikes ravaged the man's face. Luckily for him, she really held back on the force behind the punch so he would survive, though it would leave him scared for life. She threw the man out of the ring and out of harm's way, before turning to the others.

The four remaining men were all shocked by what had happened to their companion, and two of them started to look around them so Aurora said, "Just step out of the ring and I won't harm you. I do not wish to kill you, and there is no shame in giving up against me."

This proved to be enough as the four men all ran out of the ring and to safety.

The Sealord and his entourage applauded her and he said, "A most impressive display Ser, I must admit to be quite curious as to who you are, would you perhaps reveal yourself to us, so we can be properly introduced."

Aurora nodded and grinning to herself, she finally removed her helmet, shocking her entire audience, except for Syrio Forel, who said, "Well played, my Lady, I must say I am impressed. I have heard rumors of your strength from the aftermath of the sack of King's Landing, but I now see that they are not nearly as impressive as you are in real life."

Aurora laughed heartedly and said, "It is good to know that my reputation has preceded me." And turning to the Sealord she said, "We have come to speak with you, Sealord, to propose a very lucrative endeavor. Perhaps we should retire to a more private area for this discussion?"

Ferrego Antaryon inclined his head in agreement and motioned for Aurora to follow him. While Aurora collected her axe, and put it back into the holder on her back, Gabrielle, Ashara and the girls joined her on the sand while the Forlorn spread out evenly around them, the four holding the cages of Saphirus and Violet were in the middle of the circle.

They followed the Sealord's group into the palace and towards a large solar, where the Sealord's guards stayed outside, along with the Forlorn, after a single order from Aurora, though the four with the dragons followed them inside, where they placed the cages on the floor before retreating out of the solar.

Once inside the solar, Ferrego motioned for them all to take a seat, which they did. Ashara and the girls took a seat next to the covered cages, while Aurora and Gabrielle sat down before the large desk behind which Ferrego had taken a seat.

"Now," Ferrego began, "What is this proposal you had for me?"

Aurora and Gabrielle, who had also taken of her helmet, shared a look and Gabrielle began. "Firstly, before we begin, it may be a good idea to have a representative of the Iron Bank present. We are going to make a similar proposition to them, so we might as well do it at the same time."

Ferrego nodded and he took a small iron bell from his desk. He ringed it twice and the door opened to reveal a servant who bowed and asked, "What can I help you with Sealord?"

"Ask Tycho Nestoris to come to my office at his earliest convenience."

"Certainly Sealord." The man bowed again and closed the door behind him.

While they waited for the servant to return, Gabrielle asked, "If it is not to presumptuous of me to ask, I'd like to ask you what is in your opinion the most despicable thing in the world?"

Without hesitation Ferrego answered, "Slavery." Which was exactly what they had wanted to hear.

After ten minutes the doors opened again and a tall, thin, and gaunt man entered. He was dressed in sober purple robes and around his neck he carried a large ornamental key, made of silver and inlaid with gemstones.

The man made a small bow to the Sealord and said respectfully, "Sealord, you had asked for my presence?"

"Yes, Keyholder Nestoris. These two women have a proposition for me that also involves the Iron Bank, so they thought it best to invite a representative of the bank to witness our discussions."

Tycho nodded and took a seat on the side of the desk, so he had a clear view of both the Sealord and Aurora and Gabrielle. Once he was seated, Ferrego motioned for Gabrielle to continue which she promptly did.

"What would you say if I told you that we plan to, and have the means, to end slavery once and for all."

Both men looked surprised and intrigued and Ferrego motioned for Gabrielle to continue.

"You may or may not be aware that Westeros has recently fought a civil war between the Targaryens, and Robert Baratheon, who was supported by Tywin Lannister." Both men nodded and Gabrielle continued.

"Well, Rhaegar won that war, with our help. Robert Baratheon has been executed for his crimes, but Tywin Lannister and his two oldest children managed to escape, with the help of an attack force that was send by the Emperor of Ghiscar. They have taken refuge on the island of New Ghis and Tywin Lannister has been named supreme commander of the Ghiscari armies.

It stands without doubt that Tywin will use his position to conquer the rest of Essos, and if he unites the slaver cities behind him, he has a good chance of doing so. We know for a fact that there is already an alliance between Ghiscar and Qarth as a Qartheen fleet was sent in support of the Ghiscari force that attacked King's Landing."

Both Ferrego and Tycho nodded, they had indeed known of all of this, so Gabrielle got to the point behind their visit. "What we are planning is this. We are going to rebuild the old freehold, into the Kingdom of Valyria. We will begin in Tyrosh, as that city directly attacked us during our conquest of the Stepstones. The entire slave population of Tyrosh will be freed and given the chance to join us to Valyria, as Tyrosh will be completely destroyed to set an example for those that would cross us.

Using the freed slaves of Tyrosh, we will rebuild the great city of Valyria and from there extend our influence to the mainland of Essos. The city is easily defendable, as it is now an island and we have nearly 500 ships under our direct command. Using the forces we have readily available, around 20,000, we will make hit and run attacks along the coastlines, weakening the population there and hopefully, freeing many slaves that are put to work there.

According to the personal correspondence between Tywin Lannister and one of his former agents in the Red Keep, we know that it will take Tywin roughly five years to build up the forces he needs to begin his great conquest. So, that gives us an equal amount of time to do the same, and luckily for us, my wife and I know more about warfare than Tywin Lannister could hope to learn in a dozen lifetimes."

Ferrego nodded attentively but Tycho asked, "It would appear that you have everything well thought out my lady, but if I might be so blunt, what is it that you want from us?"

Gabrielle grinned but it was Aurora who answered, "Well, to make this endeavor a success, we need two things. Manpower, and resources. Manpower is easy to get, but what we do not have are supplies, and in particular food and gold. We want to request a loan from the Iron Bank, the money of which is to be used for the purchasing of the supplies we need to rebuild Valyria."

"How much?" was Tycho's sharp response, the banker had enough experience with fraud and swindle to be suspicious of their story.

With a calm and even face Gabrielle responded, "20 million gold pieces."

Ferrego choked in the goblet of wine he was drinking and couching loudly he sputtered. "Twen… twen… twenty million."

Tycho didn't respond for a while, but after a few minutes he said, "As much as I would want to, I cannot support you in this endeavor without some guarantee of success. You are going up against one of the mightiest empires that have ever been, with little hope of success should they decide to attack you before you are ready."

Gabrielle only grinned and Aurora said, "We assumed that that would be the position of the Iron Bank, so let me reassure you, we have a weapon that will decide the outcome of this war." And with those words she pulled the covers from the cages of Saphirus and Violet, revealing the two little dragons who instantly flared their wings and hissed at the sudden light.

Both Ferrego and Tycho were amazed at what they saw until finally Ferrego asked, "Are those what I think they are?" Aurora nodded and after a signal from Gabrielle, the twins came towards them and to the shock of the two men, opened the cages.

Both Saphirus and Violet calmed down instantly when they recognized their bonded riders and jumped happily out of the cages and tried to crawl up on their shoulders, which resulted in all four of them landing on the floor when Silvana and Lissena lost their balance.

Pointing to the dragons Gabrielle said, "Gentlemen, meet Saphirus and Violet, the first two dragons to hatch in over a hundred years. Our adopted daughters are their bonded riders and in five years' time, all four will be ready to take to the sky and wage war."

It was silent for a minute until Ferrego and Tycho looked at each other and nodded once. Turning to Aurora and Gabriele, Ferrego said, "Whatever you need, just ask. You have the full and unconditional support of both the city of Braavos, and the Iron Bank."


	20. Chapter 20

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 20

 _It was silent for a minute until Ferrego and Tycho looked at each other and nodded once. Turning to Aurora and Gabriele, Ferrego said, "Whatever you need, just ask. You have the full and unconditional support of both the city of Braavos, and the Iron Bank."_

Aurora and Gabrielle inclined their heads in gratitude and Gabrielle said, "We thank you wholeheartedly for your support and you can rest assured, we will not betray the trust you have given us. For now though, let's talk business."

The two nodded and they went back to the desk where they retook their seats, though the looks of Ferrego and Tycho were repeatedly drawn towards Silvana and Lissena who were playing with their dragons on the expensive Myrish carpet.

Gabrielle cleared her throat and once she had regained the attention of the two men, she began. "Right now we are planning a trip to north of the Wall, we want to find the giant tribes and try to persuade them to join us in our campaign. If we can get say, two dozen giants, dress them in heavy plate steel and teach them how to use swords or war hammers, we have the ultimate shock troops.

In the meantime, we would like to ask you to use the time until our return to equip a fleet with everything we will need to rebuild Valyria. Mainly food and tools, as natural resources like wood and stone are plenty on the island. We would also welcome any and all volunteers who would want to help us. We have great need of good craftsmen, especially carpenters, blacksmiths, miners and stone masons. Of course, soldiers are always welcome to join in our campaign, and if those Bravos of yours want to get some experience in a proper fight, just send them our way and we'll turn them into real soldiers for you."

Both Ferrego and Tycho nodded and Ferrego said, "I'll see to it that the ships are ready when you return, and as for craftsmen, I'll send my men into the city to look for volunteers. I have no doubt that there are plenty young men and women willing to leave the city in search for a fresh start in a legendary country. Soldiers will be easy to find I think. I'll tell Syrio to spread the word amongst the Bravos, as I have no doubt that tales of your deeds this afternoon have already spread throughout their ranks."

Tycho nodded and said in turn, "I will report to my fellow Keyholders at the Bank about our agreement and I'll see to it that all expenses made by the Sealord will be paid and that the rest of the sum will be waiting for you upon your return."

Gabrielle inclined her head and Aurora responded, "Thank you. And if your fellow Keyholders start complaining, then you tell them that we will pay them back the full sum, within ten years. I do not know the exact market value of Valyrian steel, but we have plenty of it to repay our debt with." And as if to prove her point, she withdrew a long small sword from beneath her cloak. It was the same style as those used for the Braavosi fighting style called Waterdancing.

"This is _Windcleaver,_ consider it the first repayment of our debt. I think it should be worth about one million gold pieces, don't you agree Sealord?"

Ferrego looked with greedy eyes at the blade and said hastily, "You are absolutely right my lady." Turning to the man besides him he added, "Tycho, I'll have the gold transferred to the bank later today." When Tycho Nestoris nodded in acceptance, Aurora handed the sword to Ferrego and he accepted it with an awestruck expression.

Standing up he drew the sword from the richly decorated sheath and swung it around a few times to test the balance of the blade, which was perfect. "This is amazing, where did you get it?"

Aurora grinned and replied, "I made it myself. We happened to find a lot of raw Valyrian steel, and we melted it down to forge into swords, the first one of which you now hold."

One of the projects they had undertaken in the months before the invasion of the Stepstones, was removing the Valyrian steel door from Dragonstone and cutting it up into more manageable pieces. Enough of the pieces were entrusted to Tobho Moth for him to create seven swords out of it, one for each member of the Kingsguard. They weren't sure if Ser Arthur would accept as he was already wielding Dawn, but in that case, it would be kept for his eventual replacement. The rest of the pieces Aurora and Gabrielle had kept with them, to be forged into something useful when the time came.

Now that he knew it was newly forged, Ferrego was even more amazed and asked, "But where did you learn how to re-forge Valyrian steel, I thought only a select few of the blacksmiths of Qohor knew how to do so, and they do not share their secrets with outsiders."

Aurora grinned and said, "It is not a big secret how to _re-forge_ it, the secret is how to make it. The only difficulty in re-forging it lies in the rarity of one crucial ingredient, dragonfire. The blacksmiths of Qohor have somehow kept their forges burning for centuries, giving them access to dragonfire, but we have a limitless supply, ready on hand."

"So, those two dragons have helped you to forge _Windcleaver_?"

Ferrego's question seamed to amuse them immensely and Gabrielle responded, "Good heavens no, their fire is not nearly hot enough yet. It takes an adult dragon's fire to melt Valyrian steel, but since we didn't want to cause mass panic in your city, we left the big ones in the hills beyond the forests."

"So, there are more dragons?" Tycho asked disbelieving.

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded and pointing at Saphirus and Violet, Aurora said, "Yes, how do you think we hatched those two? The mother dragon breathes on the eggs to hatch them. The dragons my wife and I ride into battle are many times larger, and I doubt the main hall of your palace would be big enough to house even one."

Now both Ferrego and Tycho had gone ashen-faced and Tycho asked hesitantly, "So, are those big dragons the reason the Targaryens won the war?"

Both women nodded and Gabrielle said, "Maybe we shall show them to you when we return, depends on whether they are needed in the war against Tyrosh or not. We gave orders not to attack the city in our absence, but that does not mean that the Tyroshi won't attack us either."

Tycho nodded and Ferrego said, "Please keep the dragons away from our city, I'm afraid the population will not take kindly to seeing the beasts that helped to enslave their ancestors, even if they are now fighting on our side."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded and Gabrielle said, "I have one last request, if we are to be able to transport giants, we will need more ships than we currently have with us. Would it be possible for us to borrow a few cargo ships, as we only have warships which don't have adequate room to hold giants."

Ferrego nodded and replied, "I'll see to it that five galleys will be waiting for you when you set sail tomorrow, furthermore, I'll have them loaded with food and two dozen horses, to aid you on your journey."

Both women nodded in thanks and Aurora and Gabrielle stood up. "We shall take our leave then. Is there an inn you can recommend us to use for the night?"

Ferrego thought a minute about Gabrielle's question until he said, "For the safety of those two," he said pointing at Saphirus and Violet, "I'd suggest returning to your ships and spending the night at the Arsenal. No one will disturb you there and I'll send word to the Arsenal that they should double their patrols tonight, we can't take any risks."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded again and Gabrielle said, "That is an excellent suggestion, we shall take our leave then, we had wanted to see a bit of your city now that it is still light."

Ferrego walked around his desk and said, "I'll have a guide sent to you to show you around, it is easy to get lost in the city." Taking something from a cabinet along the wall, he handed it to Aurora who saw it was a golden medallion on a chain, displaying the Titan of Braavos on one side and a broken chain on the other. "This medallion shows that you are under the protection of the Sealord and are granted unlimited access to the city, don't lose it."

Aurora nodded and hung the medallion around her neck, before shoving it down into her breastplate where it would be safe. Silvana and Lissena had managed to get Saphirus and Violet back into their cages and Gabrielle whistled on her fingers. The door opened and four of the Forlorn entered, who picked up the cages and waited till the twins had put the covers back over, before walking out the door where they waited with the others.

The group of three women and three girls all said goodbye to the Sealord and to Tycho Nestoris, before taking their leave and joining their guards in the hallway. They made their way back to the entrance of the palace, where they were awaited by Syrio Forel who made an elaborate bow and said, "I have the honor of being your guide for the duration of your stay in our great city. Just tell me where you want to go, and I'll take you there."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in acceptance and Gabrielle said, "Please take us to markets, specifically the cloth market, as we need to buy some silk." She looked at Ashara, who was still carrying Elia in a piece of linen, that was no longer white.

Syrio nodded and led them out of the palace and back towards the docks, where they boarded a barge which was swiftly rowed away into one of the many canals. It took them about fifteen minutes to reach a large open square, covered by market stalls and yelling merchants.

Aurora turned towards the Forlorn and ordered, "Stay on the barge, allow no one on board and if you are attacked, defend those cages with your lives."

As one the dozen men saluted her and with their heavy axes at the ready, they spread out around the barge and took up guard positions. Aurora nodded content and she and Gabrielle led their company off of the barge and onto the busy marketplace.

Syrio led them without faltering and soon they stood before a stall with all kinds of fabrics, in the most spectacular colors and designs. Gabrielle helped Ashara to pick out something she liked while Aurora kept an eye on the girls, who were likewise admiring the many rolls of soft silk and velvet the merchant had to sell.

When Aurora asked the man for black velvet, he produced a thick roll of soft midnight black fabric and they started bartering. They finally settled on 50 gold pieces for the entire roll and after Aurora handed over the money, the merchant produced a few lengths of rope to help her carry it around her shoulder.

Ashara had finally settled on a piece of bright violet silk, decorated with fine silver embroidery and she paid the merchant 3 gold pieces for the 15 feet of fabric.

They moved on to another stall which sold thread and needles and other similar items, and Aurora besieged the merchant for several balls of gold- and black thread and a few dozen needles. After some bidding back and forth, they settled on a price and the merchant handed the items to Aurora, after putting them in a linen bag.

Having bought what they needed, they just strolled around the market, looking at the many different stalls and stopping here and there when the girls wanted to look at something more closely.

They briefly stopped at a bakery stall that sold fresh sweets and bought some lemon cakes for everyone. While the girls were occupied with their cakes, Aurora snuck off to a nearby stall and came back soon after, without the girls having noticed anything.

While they were making their way back to the barge, as it was nearing twilight and the merchants where closing their stalls, they noticed a disturbance in the direction of the docks. When Silvana and Lissena suddenly became agitated for no reason, Aurora and Gabrielle looked up in concern and Aurora stormed ahead towards the harbor, while Gabrielle stayed with the others and followed as fast as they could.

Aurora shoved her way through the crowd, though most fled automatically when they saw her approaching and soon she had reached the docks. She found nearly two dozen men, all of whom were clearly well beyond the point of piss-drunk, who were trying to board the barge. Obeying her orders to the letter, the Forlorn had formed a half circle around the covered cages and were halting the men's attempts to find out what was hidden in the cages.

"This is your last warning," one of the Forlorn said on a dull and emotionless tone. "Step back now and disperse, or we will use force."

One of the drunkards was clearly not impressed by his words, and picked a stone from the ground and threw it between the shoulders of two of the Forlorn. It hit one of the cages and Aurora could hear Saphirus roar when the stone hit the cage. "L… l… look guys. It's a… alive." And he bowed down to pick another stone from the ground.

Throwing again, he now hit the breast plate of a Forlorn and said soldier stepped off the barge to prevent him from throwing again. He pushed the drunkard away from the docks and said on the same emotionless tone as every other Forlorn, "Go away now. If you do not listen we will be forced to resort to using violence." At that moment, something happened in the crowd of drunkards. They all seemed to suddenly sober up and knives and swords were drawn while they threw themselves at the soldier.

One of the men stabbed his dagger through the eye-slit of the Forlorn's helmet and killed him instantly. The crowd screamed in panic when the lifeless body fell into the water and the rest of the former drunkards stormed towards the barge.

If they hoped that the death of one of their comrades would cause a panic amongst the Forlorn, then they were sadly mistaken. They immediately closed ranks and hefted their heavy axes in preparation to fight.

Cursing loudly Aurora forced her way through the panicking crowd and tried to reach the barge while she saw the Forlorn cutting down one assailant after the other.

By the time she reached the docks, the Forlorn had already cut down 16 of their attackers, while they lost 3 of their own number. The arrival of Aurora immediately ended the fight. Making two wide strikes with her massive axe, she cut down 6 of the remaining attackers and the last 2 tried to flee, until she drew two daggers from her boot and threw them in quick succession, hitting one in his neck and the other in his shoulder.

While the Forlorn dragged their wounded back behind their line and closed ranks again, Aurora hurried to the man she had hit in the shoulder and turned him around so she could look him in the eyes. She removed her right gauntlet and slammed her bare hand against the man's head, breaking into his mind and searching for the relevant information. When she had found what she was looking for, she withdrew from the man's mind and pulled the dagger from his shoulder. In an almost casual move, she cut the man's throat and calmly watched as he choked on his own blood.

Wiping the dagger clean on the man's clothes, she put it back in her boot before pulling the second dagger from the neck of the other man and doing the same with that one. Walking calmly back to the barge, she knelt down besides the trio of Forlorn who had been cut down. Inspecting their wounds, she found that two were already dead while the third could be saved, so she stemmed the bleeding and waited for Gabrielle to arrive and fix him up. They may be nothing but criminals, but that did not mean that they would just throw away their lives, they were much to useful for that.

It took a few minutes for the others to arrive and when they did, Ashara had to throw up when she saw the massacre at the docks. The great axes of the Forlorn had inflicted horrendous wounds on the assailants. Two of them were still moving weakly, until Gabrielle put an end to their suffering by driving the top spike of her axe through their skulls.

Keeping the head of the second man down with her armored boot, Gabrielle pulled the spike from his skull with a sickening sound, causing Yara to also throw up her Lemon cakes. The twins had hurried up on the barge and where now trying to calm down Saphirus and Violet, who were extremely agitated by the sounds of fighting and the smell of blood in the air.

They were blocked from sight by the remaining Forlorn so they partially removed the covers and spoke softly and calmingly to the two little dragons but it was of no use, until Aurora let out a low growl, which shut them up immediately.

Meanwhile Gabrielle had come on board and was now observing the wound of the wounded soldier. Working carefully, she heated the point of one of her daggers and pressed it against the open veins in the man's side, stopping the bleeding and giving her a clearer image of his injuries.

Taking a curved needle and some strong thread from her pouch Gabrielle carefully stitched the wound up until all that remained was a long thin line running from his belly button to halfway past his side.

When she was done, the man tried to stand up again, since they had removed their ability to feel pain the only reason the man had fallen was blood loss, but his legs would not support his weight, so Gabrielle ordered him to stay down, which he did without a word.

In the meantime, Aurora had removed her cape and her weapons, and removed a long piece of rope from her belt. Tying one end of the rope to the barge, she kept the other end in her hand and without saying a word, she dived overboard and swam straight down. The canal was surprisingly deep, and it took her almost half a minute to reach the bottom, even with her armor pulling her down.

She searched the bottom of the canal for the body of the Forlorn who had fallen in the water and located him soon, just as with her, his armor had pulled him almost straight down. She tied the rope around his chest and gave a few hard pulls, drawing the attention of the people above water who pulled him up.

The weapon was a bit harder to find, but since she could hold her breath for ten minutes, that wasn't a problem. She soon found it and when she tried to pull it from the bottom, she found it was stuck. Bracing herself against the bottom she pulled on the axe until there came a little movement and to her surprise, she dragged up a chain. Making a quick decision, she put the axe between her belt and pulled on the chain.

One side came loose but the other led deeper into the canal. Deciding to come back, Aurora swam to the surface.

When she resurfaced, she was a dozen yards away from the boat and quickly swam towards the barge. Gabrielle saw her coming and asked, "Did you find something?"

Aurora grasped the railing of the barge and pulled herself up before replying, "Yes and I need some help to find out what it is." Gabrielle nodded and wordlessly began to remove her weapons and cape until she was dressed the same as Aurora.

They jumped overboard again and quickly swam to where Aurora had left the chain. Upon further inspection they saw that it was made of silver, which was surprising as the shackles were each the size of two joined fists. They followed the chain as it led further into the deep of the canal until it went straight down into the muddy bottom.

They searched quickly until they found some large, thick planks, probably fallen from some barge, and placed them over the mud to prevent being sucked into the bottom when they pulled on the chain.

It took all of their not inconsiderate strength, but slowly the chain rose from the mud until they finally saw what they were pulling up.

A perfectly preserved, pitch black dragonhead, was pulled up from the mud, with no doubt the rest of the corpse still being hidden under the mud. The chain was connected to the dragon's harness, which in turn still held the partially decomposed remains of a rider.

Looking in surprise to the other, they both realized that there was no way they would be able to pull the carcass from the mud and sand beneath the water in their human forms. They decided to let it stay where it was for now and only took the end of the chain with them towards the surface. They bound the chain to the underside of the docks, before rising back above the surface.

They climbed back on the barge and without explaining what they had been doing, they picked up their weapons and their capes and put them back in their proper place.

The barge was released from the docks, after Syrio had explained everything to the captain of the city watch who had come to investigate the disturbance. They were brought to the Arsenal where they said goodbye to Syrio and the captain of the barge, before making their way to their ships.

They were pleased to see that work was progressing smoothly and the repairs to the damaged ship were nearly halfway done, while the other two were floating again, the work on them being completed already.

Aurora chose three of the Forlorn to take the places of the three who had been killed, which was why she had recovered the corpse of the third man, as they used their armor to outfit their replacements, after repairing the damage.

They made their way back onboard the two ships that had been completed, and Saphirus and Violet were quickly brought below deck where they were released and made themselves comfortable on a pile of loose rope.

Aurora and Gabrielle waited until it was completely dark to return to the canal, which they did with just the two of them. Ashara had put the girls to work with the fabric and cloth Aurora had bought on the market and they were making tabards for the dozen bodyguards to wear over their armor. Each tabard proudly bore the sigil of House Valaris so they would be immediately recognizable to anyone who knew it.

Just as this afternoon, they removed their weapons and capes and left them in their cabin, before diving into the water.

The water of the main lagoon was spacious enough for both of them to change and they did so without any problem. Underwater they swam back to the place where the dragon carcass lay. They were careful not to move too much, as their bulk left large ripples in the water if they weren't careful.

They reached the place without incident and found the chain where they had left it. Deciding to leave it where it was for now, they traveled along the bottom until they came upon the place of the corpse. Using their immense claws, they removed much of the mud, decomposed plants and other things, that covered the dragon and they had the body cleared in no time. They found the corpse of the rider still strapped into the saddle, though they made no illusions about the state of the human corpse.

While Gabrielle carefully picked up the dragon corpse, Aurora changed back into human form and released the chain from the docks, to prevent it from pulling down half the docks if they pulled it loose.

When they were done Aurora swam back to Gabrielle and held herself on one of the spikes around her head, while Gabrielle swam back to the lagoon, still carrying the dragon beneath her. They swam back to the ocean beyond the great statue of the Titan and secured the dragon to a large boulder on the seabed.

Aurora removed the remains of the rider from the saddle and taking it with her, retook her place on Gabrielle's head, while she swam back to their ships.

When they got back to their ships, Gabrielle also changed and after Aurora climbed onboard, she dropped a rope into the water to which Gabrielle secured the remains of the rider. While Aurora pulled the body on board, Gabrielle climbed up herself and soon they were both standing on the deck. Dripping with seawater and with a half-decomposed dragon-rider between them.

They were careful not to draw any attention from the docks, the Forlorn paid them no attention until they ordered them to do so, and made their way into their cabin.

Once in their cabin they placed the body on the floor and started to inspect their find. It was obvious the body had been in the water for centuries if not more, but it was remarkably well preserved. Not as good as the dragon was, since dragon corpses didn't decay, but still.

It was immediately clear what had killed the rider, as a two-inch-wide hole could be seen in the front of the armor and after closer inspection, Aurora pulled a heavily rusted tip of a javelin out of the body of the rider.

Gabrielle carefully removed the helmet, noticing that it was made of Valyrian steel, just as the rest of the armor, and revealed the face of the rider. Not much was left of face, as small fish had gotten into the helmet and eaten most of the flesh. They did notice something remarkable about the bone color, It was not white anymore as with normal people but had a soft black hue over it, giving it the effect of shadows.

They continued to undress the corpse until only some ragged scraps of clothing were left. The flesh of the body was white with a greenish hue, but it was a miracle there was any flesh left on the body. They saw that the rider had been a women, as her breasts were still somewhat present, but otherwise there was no identifying mark as to her identity. The mail of her armor had been colored bright blue and her belt buckle held a trio of stars over a bonfire, not that it told them anything, but still.

When they were done with their rather un-tasteful job, they dressed the body in a clean dress and wound it in several layers of sailcloth, before hiding it in the hold of the ship, they would find a suitable place to bury her on their way north.

The next morning Aurora and Gabrielle were woken by Silvana and Lissena, who barged into their room saying, "Momma wake up, the Sealord is here to see you and he says it is urgent."

They rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and groaned loudly when Saphirus and Violet jumped onto their bed and started to lick their faces. Giving the two dragons a shove, so they got off of them, the two women sat up in bed and stretched themselves out. They dressed speedily, deciding to leave the outer armor and just wore the padded leather and mail, and made their way out of their cabin.

When they got topside, they saw that a luxurious barge had been moored alongside their own galley and the Sealord was waiting patiently for them to arrive. When he saw them Ferrego stepped forward and said, "It is good to see you are unharmed after yesterday's attack, I must say I had not expected an attack in broad daylight. Have you any idea who was behind the attack?"

Aurora nodded and replied, "We have, but it might be prudent to have this discussion within the safety of the Iron Bank, as I'd like to prevent any eavesdropping. And besides, it is about an attack on a subject of a very substantial investment by them, so I have no doubt they want to be present as well."

Ferrego nodded acceptingly and said, "I'll send a message ahead to the bank, so they know they can expect us. If you want to finish dressing, I will wait onboard of my barge." He turned around and went back onboard his ship, while Aurora and Gabrielle went back below deck to put on the plate parts of their armor.

When they got back topside, they saw that the ships Ferrego had promised them the day before had arrived and were surrounding their own three, all of which were finished with their repairs.

Aurora turned towards Ashara and the trio of girls and said, "Keep Saphirus and Violet below decks, stay in the middle of the harbor and whatever you do, don't leave the ships." They all nodded and Aurora turned toward the trio of Forlorn they had named captains, and were in command of the ships. "Put everyone on high alert, prevent any boarding activities and protect our family with your lives."

The three men saluted and two of them returned to their own ships while the third went below decks to gather the crew and pass on Aurora's orders.

Aurora and Gabrielle joined Ferrego on his barge, accompanied by their dozen guards, and the boat immediately set a course back to the city, where they docked half an hour later at the same place as they had the day before. On their right was the palace and on their left was a large, fortress-like building made of dark grey stone.

Dozens upon dozens of heavily armed soldiers were patrolling on the battlements and around the building, some of the groups had large, fierce-looking, guard dogs with them. Ferrego led them into the building where they were met by Tycho Nestoris and two others, both of them carrying similar richly decorated keys around their necks.

"Welcome to the Iron Bank of Braavos," Tycho said with a bow, before indicating his fellow Keyholders and introducing them. "May I introduce my fellow members of the council of the Iron Bank, Bessaro Reyaan," the man on his right was dressed in richly decorated red velvet robes and was incredibly fat.

"And Noho Dimittis," the man on his left was dressed in a sober dark blue robe decorated with a single silver griffin on the right shoulder, and was rather slim, with a long face and thin graying hair.

Both men made a short bow and Tycho led the group towards a large marble room, heavily decorated with iron ornaments and iron furniture. At a snap of Aurora's fingers, six of the Forlorn stayed outside of the room and blocked the door, while the other six entered the room and went to stand on either side of the double door.

The six members of the main group all took a seat on the round iron table and the four men looked expectantly at Aurora and Gabrielle, who shared a single look before Aurora took the lead.

"As you all undoubtedly know, yesterday afternoon our guards were violently attacked by a group of armed men, posing as drunkards. This attack resulted in the deaths of three of our guards and all of the attackers. They were after our two _little_ dragons, which they luckily didn't see or touch, as we're not sure what the two _big_ ones would have done if any harm came to them."

The four men all swallowed at Aurora's words, they didn't know how big the big ones were, but Aurora's words were promising enough to make them a little anxious as they had heard what had happened at King's Landing.

Aurora's next words left a deathly silence in the chamber. "The reason I requested this meeting to take place here, is because I know that one of you was behind this attack."


	21. Chapter 21

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 21

" _As you all undoubtedly know, yesterday afternoon our guards were violently attacked by a group of armed men, posing as drunkards. This attack resulted in the deaths of three of our guards and all of the attackers. They were after our two little dragons, which they luckily didn't see or touch, as we're not sure what the two big ones would have done if any harm came to them."_

 _The four men all swallowed at Gabrielle's words, they didn't know how big the big ones were, but Aurora's words were promising enough to make them a little anxious as they had heard what had happened at King's Landing._

 _Aurora's next words left a deathly silence in the chamber. "The reason I requested this meeting to take place here, is because I know that one of you was behind this attack."_

"THAT IS PREPOSTEROUS!" Bessaro Reyaan yelled while furiously shaking his fist at Aurora.

"What proof have you to make such an accusation?" Noho Dimittis asked with thunder written on his face.

Tycho tried to calm down his fellow Keyholders and said, "Please gentlemen, let us hear out the Ladies, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for this accusation."

Ferrego looked at the reactions with a small smile on his face. He had to admit it was a master move, having this conversation in the Iron Bank. It gave the Keyholders a sense of security, allowing them to state their accusations without risking anyone running away.

When Tycho had managed to calm his two fellows, Aurora took the lead again and said, "I will prove that what I said is the truth, if you could give me your hands, I will show you my memories of what transpired."

When she said that, the men all looked amazed and Aurora explained, "I have certain abilities, one of which is the ability to copy the memories of others and then project them to someone else, though only through physical contact."

After a little hesitation, all four men took her invitation and grabbed her hands. Ferrego and Tycho took her right, and Bessaro and Noho took her left. They were drawn into her memory and were shown what she had witnessed the day before.

They followed the events from the moment Aurora noticed the attack, until the moment she tore apart the mind of the last attacker.

At that moment she halted the memory and turned to the four men who shared the memory with her. "This next part is what I tore from that man's", she pointed at the frozen image of the last attacker, " memory and contains the identity of their employer."

When she restarted the memory she noticed one of the men start to get uncomfortable as he recognized the environment they suddenly found themselves in.

A richly decorated office with red marble floors and walls, and behind the desk, an incredibly fat man.

The fat man behind the desk spoke to the trio of men they saw standing before the desk and he said, "I want those dragons, no matter the cost, the Ghiscari will give me anything I ask them, to be able to kill them."

At that point Aurora broke the connection and the four men suddenly found themselves back in the meeting room. Bessaro swallowed audibly as he felt the looks of the three other men on him.

Before anyone could say a word though, Gabrielle snapped her fingers and said to the six Forlorn who stood beside her almost instantly, "Take him into custody, and wait for further orders."

The Forlorn saluted and dragged Bessaro from his chair before binding and gagging him. They dropped him in a corner of the room and then stood before him to keep him out of sight. All in the span of less than a minute.

Aurora and Gabrielle turned to the three men who were still seated before them and who where a little shell-shocked by the betrayal and additionally by the brutal effectiveness of the Forlorn.

"Now gentlemen," Gabrielle began, "it falls to you to punish this man for his betrayal. I do not presume to order you about, but since we are also victims of his betrayal, I suggest the following punishment. Confiscate all of his possessions, take away his key, and sentence him to death. As the grieved party, we would claim half of his possessions, liquidated into gold, while the rest would be used to pay and equip a proper city watch, to prevent these kind of things in the future."

The trio of men discussed the proposal for a few minutes until Ferrego took the lead, "You speak wisely and offer good advice, but half is too much. We propose a quarter of his possessions in gold, while another quarter is transferred into supplies and ships for your journey to Valyria."

Since this would be the thing they would use the gold for anyway, Aurora and Gabrielle readily agreed and after a few more minutes of ironing out details, the two women took their leave and returned to their ships.

The five ships Ferrego had sent to accompany them were all galleys, but with large holds and great square sails. They were roughly half again as wide as their own war-galleys, but much more cumbersome and slower.

They stopped at each of the five ships and introduced themselves to the captains while learning their names and informing them of their destination.

Once they were back onboard of their flagship, which they had named _The Chain Breaker,_ they signaled to the two other ships which they had named, _Sapphire_ and _Emerald_ , to follow them out of the lagoon and through the channel, back to the Narrow Sea.

The journey from Braavos to Hardhome took them two weeks, most of that time was spent with Aurora and Gabrielle teaching the trio of girls how to wield a dagger, as that was the only weapon they could safely use onboard without risking any injuries.

They paused on the first uninhabited island they passed and buried the body of the unknown dragon rider there. They would leave the dragon on the seabed, as the elements would have no influence on the corpse, until they returned and take it with them south, to Valyria.

When they could see land again, they saw snow as far as the eyes could see and pines and other needle trees covered the lands. However, what drew their attention were four ships sailing their way.

The sails of each of the ships showed the bleeding tower of Tyrosh and as soon as Aurora saw them, she roared across the water to the _Sapphire_ and the _Emerald, "_ PREPARE FOR BATTLE, DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY."

Turning to the officers of their own ship she ordered, "Take as many prisoners as you can, and try not to damage their ships to much. Signal for the cargo ships to stay back and keep their distance." The men saluted her and immediately went to work, while Aurora turned to the girls and Ashara.

"Get in a sloop and I'll have you rowed to the cargo ships, stay there and keep an eye on Saphirus and Violet, we don't want them escaping in this weather, winter is soon upon us and they will not survive if they get separated from us."

The four nodded and hurried to gather a few possessions and to get the two little dragons from below decks. Five minutes later they were in a sloop, being rowed to the Braavosi ships by half a dozen Forlorn who would act as their bodyguard.

Back on _The Chain Breaker_ Aurora and Gabrielle made ready for battle as the enemy ships were fast approaching. They appeared to be heavily laden and were far larger than their own ships. However, they appeared to be cargo ships, and not warships, so despite that they had more ships, they would have a fair chance if they didn't carry to many soldiers onboard. Though, given the reputation of the Tyroshi, they suspected that they were slave ships, carrying captured wildlings back to Tyrosh, or some other slave market.

Soon their suspicions were proven correct as the decks of the enemy ships were swarming with men, though they were only lightly armed and unarmored, though dressed in thick furs and similarly warm clothes. Their own men were all heavily armed and armored, so despite the difference in numbers, they would have the advantage.

With the _Sapphire_ and the _Emerald_ on either side of them, they sailed straight towards the Tyroshi ships and were soon within firing distance. Turning to their men Gabrielle said, "KNOCK ARROWS," 80 arrows were put on bows, "DRAW" the bows were drawn and aimed. "LOOSE." 80 arrows were released at the same time and soared toward the nearest slave ship, while on either side of them clouds of arrows were fired from the other two ships.

Cries of pain echoed across the water as the arrows hit home and Gabrielle ordered them to fire a second volley. After the second volley hit, the ships were too close for arrows and Aurora ordered, "DRAW SWORDS."

On all three ships bows were dropped and swords were drawn while the Forlorn picked shields from the railings and formed two rows on both sides of the ship. Joining their soldiers, Aurora and Gabrielle put on their helmets and grabbed their axes.

As soon as the Tyroshi ships came alongside their own ships, grappling hooks were thrown and the enemy ships were pulled closer. The _Emerald_ and the _Sapphire_ each took on one ship, while _The Chain Breaker_ took on the remaining two, one on each side. Aurora took the one on starboard with 60 men, while Gabrielle took the one on portside with the other 60 men.

As soon as the ships were close enough, the Tyroshi crews jumped onboard of their ships and were met with a wall of steel and wooden shields. Smashing against the shield walls of the Forlorn, the Tyroshi tried to hack their way through only to be met with bashing shields and sword-thrusts.

Aurora and Gabrielle swung around them with their large axes, being careful to not kill all of the attackers as they needed the manpower for the storming of the walls of Tyrosh.

The Tyroshi outnumbered them 3 to 2, but the arrows had taken their toll and the Forlorn did the rest. The fight lasted less than fifteen minutes, and when it was over, they had captured roughly 400 of the enemy and killed another 150 or so. They had lost 38 Forlorn in the battle and a few dozen wounded, but overall, they had won a good victory.

When they went below decks of the Tyroshi ships, they found the hulls filled with captives. More than 200 men, women and children were packed below decks on each of the ships, chained and frightened. When Aurora and Gabrielle entered the hull of the first of the ships, a large man with unkempt red hair stood up and said, "Who the fuck are you, and do you intend to kill us or will you call yourselves our new 'masters'." He spit out that last word with loathing and his eyes were burning with hatred.

Aurora and Gabrielle took off their helmets and Gabrielle said, "We are not your masters and we do not intend to kill you. If you will let us, we will free you and bring you back to your homes, if you want to tell us where those are."

The man seemed confused by her words but he soon recovered and said, "We would be grateful to accept your help. My name is Tormund Giantsbane, chieftain of the Free Folk of Storrolt's Point, and these are my people. These kneelers from across the sea attacked us when we were gathered at the village of Hardhome to shelter for the coming winter."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in acceptance of his words and Gabrielle said, "If you'll let us, we will remove your chains so you can move around again."

Tormund indicated his permission and with the help of the Forlorn, they released all of the prisoners. They had already broken and Recruited the slavers, so when the Free Folk came above deck, they saw only the covered faces of the Forlorn.

The former slave ships were turned around and manned by the newly recruited Forlorn, they joined the convoy who were now following Tormund's directions towards Hardhome. It took them the rest of the day to reach the Free Folk settlement, and by the time they arrived, they could see more of the Free Folk were occupying the ruins of the settlement.

The village or gathering of hovels was more accurate, had once counted over 200 huts, but most had been burned during the raid by the slavers. Those of the Free Folk who had arrived after the raid had taken place, were already rebuilding the settlement and making pyres to burn the dead.

When the convoy neared the beaches, the Free Folk withdrew into the forests surrounding the settlement to await what would happen. Gabrielle ordered the Forlorn to beach the four slave ships, whose sail's they had replaced with simple white reserve sails from the Braavosi ships.

As soon as the ships were beached, Tormund and many others jumped overboard and started calling names while running towards the woods, drawing the other Free Folk out of the forest. Families were reunited and many a happy reunion took place before Tormund let his people back to the beaches where the Forlorn had started to unload supplies from the Braavosi ships.

Aurora, Gabrielle, Ashara and the girls had also left the ships and were overseeing the unloading of the horses Ferrego had given them. They were shorter but broader than normal horses and had a thick coat of shaggy hair, making them very suited to be used in the wintery conditions of the far north.

Saphirus and Violet had been put back in their cages, so as to protect them from the biting cold and to keep them out of sight. The cages had been put on a sledge which had been attached to two of the horses.

When Tormund and his people arrived back at the beaches, Gabrielle said, "We have brought five ships filled with food and supplies, and you have a choice. We can take your people with us when we go back south, they will be given a chance to settle in a new land, free from the harsh winters of the north, but they will be faced with a war.

Or if you choose to remain here, we will unload one of our ships to help you rebuild, and to make it through winter. You have until we return to decide."

Tormund nodded thoughtfully and said, "I will discuss it with the elders, but if I might be so bold, where are you going? Winter has come, and soon the lands will be covered by snow and no longer travelable."

Gabrielle nodded in acceptance of his promise and in answer to his question Aurora said, "We came here to search for the giants. We wish to offer them the same as we do you. Safety from the cold and a new homeland."

Letting out a sigh she added, "You may or may not know this, but there is a war coming, a war between the living and the dead. The Long Night will come again, and when it does, the realms of men must be ready to stand against them. The only way we are going to be able to do that, is if we set aside our differences and unite under a single banner."

She ignored the cries and protests these words brought out amongst the Free Folk and added, "We have also been sent here by the King to present you with this." She pulled a richly decorated piece of parchment in a wooden cylinder from the pouch on her belt and gave it to Tormund.

"This scroll will give safe passage through The Wall and the royal guarantee for fertile lands south of The Wall. Any who wish to accept will be granted passage by the Night's Watch, and as long as you do not break the laws of the lands, you will be left in peace."

Tormund stared in awe at the wooden cylinder he now held in his hands and looking up at Aurora he asked with disbelieve in his voice. "So you are saying that if my people go to The Wall with this scroll, we will be allowed to pass through unhindered and given lands to live upon?"

Aurora and Gabrielle both nodded and Gabrielle said, "That is correct Tormund. Messages have been sent to the Night's Watch holding the same Royal Command and their Lord Commander will follow them, or he will be replaced. The King wants _all_ men to be safe and that wall was not made to keep out the Free Folk, it was made to keep out the White Walkers and the hordes of darkness that they command."

Tormund had to sat down at everything he was just told as it gave his people something they had never had before, a chance at safety from the wilderness of the far North. Every winter, thousands upon thousands of his people vanished. Their bodies were never found but the legends spoke of the White Walkers. They came in darkest nights, during the fiercest storms, leaving only blood and destruction in their wake.

Looking back up towards the two women before him he said, "You must understand that it is not a simple matter for my people to give up their freedom. Here in the far North, it is kill or be killed. Every winter thousands die from starvation, or simply go missing, but even so, many would rather stay here than give up their freedom.

I will need to think hard about this, I will talk with the elders and send envoys to the other clans to spread the word, but I am afraid it will be spring before we can give you an answer. Winter is here, and our people are scattered we cannot reach them now and the snows will soon be too deep to travel."

In answer to his words both inclined their heads in thanks and Gabrielle said, "All we ask it that you spread the word. Your people have a chance to find safety and shelter from the dangers that lurk these lands all you need to do is ask, and it shall be yours."

Now Tormund nodded in thanks and he said, "I wish you luck on your search for the Giants. There is a sizeable tribe in the forests not 150 miles from here, but the majority of them live in the Frostfangs, a great mountain range more than 800 miles from here. They cannot be reached during winter."

"Then we shall leave quickly. Our men will stay here and help you to rebuild this settlement, while we search for the giants. We should return within a week, hopefully with the giants."

They both stood up and made to leave after saying goodbye to Tormund. Their small group mounted the horses and after a few orders to the Braavosi captains, they rode out of the wrecked village in a gallop.

For a week they searched the forest in the direction Tormund had told them until they found a sign of life. In the distance large bonfires were burning and as they approached, they saw large shadows move around them.

The girls and Ashara had spent the trip on the sled with Saphirus and Violet, all huddled close together under thick furs and blankets. Aurora and Gabrielle weren't bothered by the cold as their dragon blood kept them warm and the Forlorn had been dressed in thick fur clothing over their armor, making them look like snow covered bears instead of men.

When they were within 100 yards of the fires Aurora gave the command to stop and they studied what lay before them from between the shadows underneath the trees.

What they saw mostly resembled a human camp, but much larger. There were tents and log buildings, and in the middle a small herd of animals were being guarded by watchers. But the animals were Mammoths and the watchers stood between ten- and twelve feet tall, some even reached fourteen feet.

The giants were dressed in rough clothes made from fur and they looked remarkably like humans, just more than two times as big. What they could see from their vantage point, indicated that the tribe counted maybe 200 giants. The only weapons they could see were the clubs worn by most of them but they saw a few archers, with bows the size of a Ballista.

It took less than two minutes before they were spotted and mere minutes more before they were entirely surrounded by nearly fifty giants. Clubs were raised and arrows aimed towards them but Aurora and Gabrielle rode onwards without fear, ordering the Forlorn to stay behind and guard the sled.

After they dismounted their horses, fifteen feet from the largest giant, they removed their helmets and stepped forward until the giant threateningly lifted his club. Stopping where they stood they heard the giant speak.

"Stop there. Who are you."

It took a while for them to recall the proper language, they had learned more than a dozen from Rhaegar's mind, but finally Gabrielle answered in the Old Tongue. "We need to speak with your chieftain. Please take us to him."

"What do you want to speak."

"That is only for him to know. Please take us to him." Aurora answered the giant who studied them for a minute before nodding slowly and walking away.

"Follow," was all he said and they both did as they were told.

When they looked back they saw the three girls peeking out between their think furs and looking at them. They both sent them a reassuring smile and Aurora mouthed, 'It's okay,' to which the girls quickly withdrew into the furs, hiding from the bitter cold.

Aurora and Gabrielle were led towards one of the wooden buildings and their guard motioned for them to enter. When they did they saw a giant sitting on a massive chair hewn from a large builder, with on his left a female giant and on his right a second male giant, but apparently younger as he had no beard and stood just 11 feet tall.

The giant looked at them with quiet interest and waited for them to make the first move, which they did. In an identical motion they slightly bowed their heads as a sign of respect and Gabrielle spoke first.

"Greetings Chieftain, we have been sent by the King from beyond The Wall to bring an offer of peace and safety for you and your people. The king invites you to come to The Wall and pass through it unhindered. Your race will be given lands to live on and safety from the terrors that lurk in the darkness of winter. The Long Night is coming again, and when it does, the King would rather have your mighty race on the good side of the wall."

The chieftain stood up, which was an impressive sight as he stood nearly 15 feet tall, and knelt down until his eyes were on eye level with Aurora and Gabrielle. When he stared into her eyes, Gabrielle was extremely surprised to feel a mental probe attempting to enter her mind. It was crude and not particularly powerful, but it was there none the less.

Opening up her mental defenses just a little bit, Gabrielle allowed him to see the memories that proved her words were true. When he was done she said, " _As you can see we speak the truth, but there is more. If you will allow me I shall show you."_

When he gave his permission with a nod, Gabrielle touched his hand with her own and gave him the memories of their plans for Valyria, including the possible role for the giants. When the giant retreated and sat back into his chair, Gabrielle put her glove back on and stepped back until she stood next to Aurora again.

They waited for a few minutes until the giant spoke, using his voice for the first time. "You shall be our guests. We must speak about this." They slightly bowed their heads again before they withdrew from the hut.

Back in the icy cold outside they returned back to the sled and led their group into the giant camp. They were shown to a tent large enough to hold all of them and where left to their own ways. Saphirus and Violet were let out of their cages and quickly ducked under the furs that were draped around Silvana and Lissena, not liking the cold one single bit.

They stayed in the tent for the rest of the day and when they went to bed, the Forlorn took turns on guard by both exits.

The night was quiet in the far north and not a sound disturbed their rest except for the low murmuring of the giants around the fires.

When morning came the kids were woken by the sun shining brightly through the opening of the tent. Aurora and Gabrielle were sitting in the opening and talking softly while Ashara was in the back of the tent, feeding Elia who was wrapped in a thick soft fur.

"Good morning kids," Aurora said with a soft smile on her face and the trio of girls and two dragons stretched themselves out while shrugging of the many layers of furs covering them. Saphirus and Violet began begging for food as soon as they were fully awake and Gabrielle threw a bag with dried meat towards the girls.

Over the next half hour the girls ate their own breakfast while tossing around pieces of meat for Saphirus and Violet to catch. When they were done with breakfast the two little dragons were put back into their cages and, to their displeasure, hidden on the sled again.

Aurora and Gabrielle headed outside to meet with the chieftain of the giants, while the Forlorn loaded up the sled or saddled the horses to patrol the area. The girls and Ashara gathered around the fire and continued on the embroidery of the tabards for the Forlorn, while Ashara told them a story about Aegon the Conqueror.

When they reached the hut of the chieftain, the giant on guard let them in without a word and they found the chieftain sitting on the large boulder-hewn chair, with the same two companions as the day before.

Inclining their heads in a respectful motion, Aurora and Gabrielle awaited patiently what the chieftain would say.

The chieftain took his time studying both of their faces before he spoke.

"We will accept your offer. My people will go south. My son Mag will go with you. Thirty warriors go with him."

At those words Aurora and Gabrielle shared a look that screamed, 'Hell yea.'

Now they had the second step towards gaining a _real_ army.

They had the shock troops, they had the giants, now all they needed was the main body of their army.


	22. Chapter 22

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 22

Argyll Rivers was standing on the prow of the lead ship of the trio of carracks he had been given by the ladies Aurora and Gabrielle. It was 7 weeks after they had set sail from The Stepstones and they were approaching Astapor. They had passed the Isle of Cedars four days ago and where mere hours away from reaching the Red City.

For the umpteenth time during the trip he was amazed at the trust placed on his shoulders by the Ladies. He was still filled with pride when he remembered the orders he had received and the letter he was entrusted with. Though many in Westeros would frown on it, slavery was a deplorable thing after all, he knew he was doing the right thing here. As he was one of the few who knew the full plan.

When the ships ran into the port of Astapor and docked on one of the wharfs, they were met by an assistant of the harbor master and a translator.

The assistant was a bald man in his mid-thirties and the translator was a young girl, maybe ten years old, with a round flat face, dusky skin and eyes like molten gold. The assistant and the translator both made a small bow and the translator said in the Common Tongue, "Welcome to the Great City of Astapor. What is the purpose of your visit?"

Argyll made a bow in turn and replied, "My name is Argyll Rivers and I have been sent here as an envoy to discuss the purchase of a large number of Unsullied."

The girl translated it for her master and the man immediately looked interested. He said something to the girl and she translated for him. "This one's master says that if you are interested in buying Unsullied, you should seek out the Good Masters, and in particular the noble Kraznys mo Naklos. He is a young master but he inherited a great business empire from his noble father."

Argyll bowed again in acknowledgement and asked, "Is there a way you could direct me towards the noble Kraznys mo Naklos?"

The girl translated it again and soon she translated her master's answer, "My master will send you a boy who will lead you to the noble master's pyramid."

"Please thank your master for me and ask him if I could borrow you for the day, I need a good translator and I will of course pay him for your services." The girl got a gleam in her eyes and quickly translated Argyll's request for her master.

The man looked calculating and finally he nodded and said something to the girl. Who in turn translated it again. "My master agrees but he says I have to be back before nightfall and he wants 5 gold pieces for my services."

Argyll nodded and pulled five gold pieces from his money pouch, which he then handed to the man who put them away.

The man turned around and returned to the harbor office while the girl stayed with Argyll, who led her onto the ship. Once on board Argyll gave a series of orders before he left the ship again, now accompanied by the girl, whose name he found out was Missandei, and 20 of the Forlorn. The remaining would stay at the ships and prevent anyone from coming aboard.

Whent they passed the harbor office they found the assistant waiting with a young boy next to him. As a last thing, Argyll told Missandei, "Please tell your master that my crews have orders not to allow anyone on board of my ships, and they will fight to the death to follow those orders. If he should have to visit the ships, he'll have to wait until I return from the meeting with Kraznys mo Naklos."

The girl quickly told her master and though he obviously didn't like it, he agreed, as it was not uncommon for people who carried valuables on board of their ships.

The boy led them through the city towards one of the large pyramids that occupied the city. Around the pyramid was a massive walled-off area that housed barracks, training fields, forges, kitchens and everything else you could imagine from a military training camp.

Argyll and his escort were let into the walled-off area by two pairs of Unsullied who guarded the entrance. The boy left them there and ran back to the harbor since his work was done.

On the other side of the entrance they were met by a servant who, judging by the clothing he wore, was a free man. He greeted them in the Valyrian dialect they spoke in the city and Missandei quickly translated for Argyll.

"He welcomes you to the house of the noble Kraznys mo Naklos and asks what your business is here."

Argyll nodded in greeting and said, "Tell him I have come to speak with his master about the purchase of a great number of Unsullied." Missandei did as she was asked and the servant made a bow before leading them across the yard towards the pyramid.

As they were walking Argyll was careful to inspect everything he saw, so he would be able to give an accurate report to the Ladies. What he saw was both impressive and a little disturbing. He saw the fully trained Unsullied marching in disciplined lines and fighting mock battles under the watchful eyes of whip-carrying slavers.

He saw teens, no older than 12 or 13 name-days, struggling to lift a shield and spear whilst standing in ranks upon ranks. He saw young children, no older than 5, who were playing with puppies.

On the inside of the walls were wooden crosses, and upon them were boys, ranging from 5 to 16, what they had done he did not dare guess, but their fate was more than clear. Hundreds of crosses covered the walls and everyone upon them carried long thin wounds, made by the lash of a cruelly handled whip.

It took a lot of effort for Argyll to not order his men to cut them down, but he reinforced himself with the knowledge that, it was already too late for them. However, if he succeeded in his mission, then many of the boy's now in training, would be given the chance to live in freedom, and make their own way in the world, all he had to do was focus on his mission and see it done.

When they reached the pyramid they were told to wait and the servant hurried inside. It took maybe five minutes before the servant returned and he was now accompanied by a young man, not older than 22 and wearing a tokar. The young man was in turn followed by half a dozen slave girls and a pair of guards.

Argyll made it a point to make a respectful bow to the boy, even though he himself was nearly twice his age, and said, "Greetings O Noble Kraznys mo Naklos, I have been send as an emissary by my masters to discuss the purchase of Unsullied."

Missandei quickly translated and Kraznys looked immensely pleased by the respect he was shown. He invited Argyll to join him under the shade of a large piece of cloth that was hung between four poles to create a shaded area away from the scorching sun. He gave a few orders and two of the slave girls quickly entered the pyramid to return with refreshments and fruits.

Argyll ordered the Forlorn to stay outside while he took Missandei with him as he entered the shaded area. He sat down in the chair he was offered while the girl stayed standing beside him, to translate everything that was said.

Once they were both seated and Argyll had a large glass of fine red wine in his hands, Kraznys asked, "Who do you represent and how many Unsullied are you wanting to buy?"

Argyll grimaced a little uncomfortable and replied, "I'm afraid my masters wish to remain anonymous for the moment, as they have certain delicate matters to attend to first, but I have been given full authority to bargain on their behalf."

He snapped his fingers and one of the Forlorn entered the pavilion and bowed before handing him the letter from Aurora. Argyll took the letter and the Forlorn bowed again before marching back out of the pavilion. Handing the letter to Kraznys, Argyll said, "This letter contains everything my masters wish to tell you. It is written in the common tongue so I am unsure if you can read it, but I am more than willing to tell you everything that is contained in it and you can have it checked later."

Kraznys gave his consent and Argyll began his talk. "My masters want to buy every Unsullied you have to sell in the entire city. We know there are around 12,000 for sale right now, and they will pay the full price of 500 gold pieces for each of them.

However, they will be in need of more than 12,000, so if there is a way for you to produce more, maybe you can buy them back from other cities, they will pay you an additional 50 gold pieces for each Unsullied above those 12,000. That additional price will be raised by 5 gold pieces for every 1,000 more Unsullied you can sell by the time my masters arrive.

They will arrive four months from now, and if by then you have raised the number to 20,000, they will pay you a total sum of 12 million gold pieces, so that makes 600 for each Unsullied."

The eyes of Kraznys were shining with greed at the mention of so much wealth but he said, "That sounds very enticing, but how can I be sure that they are serious about this, what if they never show up with the promised money?"

Argyll grinned softly at that and replied, "My masters knew that would be an obstacle, so they have given me enough gold to pay for the purchase, and housing until they arrive, of 1,500 Unsullied. The holds of two of my ships are filled with gold and silver, which will be yours, if we can come to an agreement."

Now Kraznys' last reservations were removed and he said, "I myself have 4,000 Unsullied, fully trained, ready to be equipped and sold. The other Good Masters have combined another 8,000, bringing the total to 12,000 as you said. We have nearly 3,000 who will soon be ready for their last tests, bringing the total to 15,000.

The city guard is comprised of 1,500, making a total of 16,500 Unsullied, and I am confident that if we make an effort, we can fill that number to the 20,000 your masters desire. However, should we be able to gather more than 20,000, will your masters buy those as well?"

"An apt question," Argyll replied and making a show of opening the letter, he looked for any indication of that matter and found it in the final paragraph. "Ah here it stands, ' _If the Good Masters are able to sell more than the requested 20,000 Unsullied, then we shall buy them as well, for the previously mentioned price of 600 gold pieces per Unsullied. However, we would like to receive a notice of this at least 4 weeks before our scheduled arrival, so we can arrange for more funds to pay for them_.'"

"Does this satisfy you Noble Kraznys mo Naklos," Argyll asked when he rolled the letter back up and replaced it in its leather cylinder.

Kraznys nodded and replied, "That it does, and as a gift to your masters, I will arrange for the equipment to be made by your preference. You have a number of options from which to choose, as our Unsullied are trained in the use of multiple weapons and several versions of armor.

They are trained in the use of the 3 spears, short, medium, and long. The use of the sword, dagger and axe. Tower shield, round shield and oval shield. As for the armor, you can make a choice of a range of different models, most of which are included in the price.

If you want the best, it might cost a little extra but not much, and also, some might take longer to produce, so you must take that into consideration as well, since I do not know exactly when your masters need their army.

Argyll bowed in gratitude and replied, "I believe I will have to see the different kinds of armor before I can make a choice, but for the weapons it shall be, the short- and medium spear, sword and dagger, and the round shield."

"Excellent choices," Kraznys replied, "and I shall see to it that you will be shown examples of all kinds of armor available as soon as we are done here. I will send someone to your ships with examples for you judgemet."

"That would be most kind of you O Noble Kraznys mo Naklos, I am most anxious to inspect them."

Kraznys inclined his head slightly in acceptance of the flattery and said, "Once you have chosen the kind of armor, please let me know about any decorations or markings your masters might desire, so they can be added in time."

"Of course, I shall have you informed as soon as I have made the choice." After those words, Argyll stood up and made a last bow as goodbye, before Kraznys escorted his group back to the gates.

Once the group was out, Kraznys turned to his assistant and said, "Have one of the leatherworkers sent to the harbor with examples of every kind of armor they are able to mass produce.

Next I want you to send envoys to the rest of the Good Masters, tell them I have just made the deal of a lifetime for all of us, and invite them for dinner tonight.

Once that is done, go to the harbor and send one of the pleasure barges to entertain our guest, it is of utmost importance that we keep him happy and content."

The assistant bowed deeply before hurrying out of the gates, with a pair of Unsullied guards on his heels.

Once Argyll and his company were back on the streets of Astapor he turned to the girls besides him and asked, "Do you know how late it is, I do not know how to read the position of the sun in this region."

Missandei looked towards the sky and said, "It is between two and three hours after noon, sun sets in about six hours."

As he thought, Argyll looked around and said, "Do you know the way back to the harbor?" Missandei nodded quickly and pointed in the proper direction. Making a decision he asked the girl, "What way are the markets?"

Missandei looked around to get an idea of where they were and replied, "The Plaza of Pride is that way," while she pointed in the opposite direction of the harbor.

Waging the options in his head he said, "We'll go there tomorrow, for now, could you please bring us back to the harbor, I have some matters to discuss with your master."

The girl nodded and said, "Yes sir, please follow me then." And she began to lead the group back to the harbor, where they arrived 15 minutes later.

They immediately headed for the harbor master's office where they met the same assistant as before.

Before the man could say anything, Argyll held up his hand and turned to Missandei, "I want you to ask him, how much it will cost me if I wanted to buy you." The girls' eyes went wide with surprise and she stared at Argyll until her owner lost his patience.

'SMACK'! the man delivered a flat-handed blow to her face, causing her to fall down on the wooden planks beneath them. He yelled her out but Argyll didn't dare intervene, if he did the man would be less likely to be willing to sell her.

Missandei quickly dragged herself back to her feet and hurriedly translated Argyll's question and why she was so slow to translate.

As soon as she finished speaking the man got the same glint in his eyes as he had seen with Kraznys mo Naklos, that of someone who smelled gold. He began bartering and Missandei dutifully translated everything.

"She is well trained and knows five languages, I will have to pay much for a replacement of equal skill. She is …"

Argyll interrupted his sales-pitch and said, "Yes, yes, I know how skilled she is, now get to business, how much do you want for her?"

The man was a little disgruntled to be interrupted but he got to the point. "300 gold pieces."

Argyll scoffed and replied, "Come on, that is more than half than the price of an Unsullied, I'll give you 200, which is more than generous."

"No to few, 275"

"No way, 225"

"250, or no sell." He held out his hand for Argyll to shake.

"Fine, 250," Argyll shook the man's hand before he added, "I have to get back to my ships to get the money. I'll leave two of my guards here to keep an eye on her, while she gathers what cloths and belongings she has."

The man nodded stiffly and pointing to two of his Forlorn guards, Argyll said in the Common Tongue, "You and you, stay here and protect her, if he strikes out at her again, stop him but don't harm him."

The two soldiers saluted him and walked over to Missandei, taking up positions on either side of her. Directing his words at the girl he said, "Those two will protect you, until I get back. You go get your things and be ready when I get back okay?"

Missandei nodded quickly and rushed away into a shed that was located behind the harbor masters office. The two Forlorn followed her quickly and her former master likewise went after, probably to make sure she didn't take anything that didn't belong to her.

Quickly making his way to his ships, Argyll led his group across the harbor and back onboard. He considered himself lucky when he went to his personal cabin and pulled out a chest from beneath the bed. Gabrielle had thought this situation might arise, and she had given him a chest with 15,000 gold pieces for personal expenses.

Removing the required 250 gold pieces from the chest, made easier by the fact that he had divided the entire sum in bags with 50 gold pieces each. He spent most of the boring nearly 2 month-long journey with counting out and sorting the 900,000 worth of gold pieces he had with him.

He put the chest away again, after taking out an extra bag with silver, and made his way back to the harbor master's office. He took with him an additional 5 Forlorn, in addition of the 18 already with him, and hurried back across the harbor.

When they arrived Missandei was waiting for him along with his two guards and her former master, who held a scroll of parchment in his hand.

Not waiting for Missandei to translate, the man snapped his fingers and held out his right hand, which was empty. Argyll put the agreed sum in his hands and the man handed him the scroll.

"Those are my papers of ownership," Missandei said quickly. "It signifies that you are now my new master."

Argyll nodded to the girl and turning to the man in front of him he said, "Next time you see her, remember who she belongs to now. Touching the slave of another man is a criminal offence, if permission has not been granted by the owner of the slave."

The man nodded once and turned around heading into the city, no doubt on his way to find a new translator.

Missandei looked up at her new master, a man she had only met a few hours before but who had already done so much for her. "What would you have me do now master?"

With a soft smile, Argyll said, "First of all, call me Argyll, when there are no others around. Secondly," he snapped his fingers and motioned for the two Forlorn standing behind her, who immediately resumed their former place behind him.

Pointing to the five new Forlorn, he said, "Those five soldiers will follow you _everywhere you go_ when you leave my ship. They will protect you and make sure no one hurts you. As long as you don't order them to do anything illegal, they will do as you say."

He looked at the rags she wore, a thin, filthy, yellow dress, and the thick leather neckband that signified her as a slave. Motioning to the small bundle she carried over her shoulder he asked, "Do you have any other clothes in there?"

She shook her head and replied, "No master, just some trinkets I found in the past five years."

With a gentle rebuke, he said, "I told you to call me Argyll without others around, but if you have no other clothes than we are going to visit a market as soon as possible. I will not have you walk around in those rags for much longer."

"Yes mast… Argyll." Missandei said enthusiastically, quickly correcting herself.

Argyll smiled down at the girl and said, "Good. But for now, let's go to the ships, we are getting visitors today." Missandei nodded again and followed Argyll back to the ships, with her new guards on her heels.

About an hour later a cart pulled by four male slaves stopped before the ships and a man in his mid-fifties stepped out. He was dressed in a tokar and accompanied by two slave girls who carried large fans made of ostrich feathers.

The slaves pulling the cart carefully put it down, not wanting to damage their master's property, and removed several large chests from it. They followed their master onto the ship, carrying the chests between them.

When they were stopped by a pair of Forlorn, the man said something to one of his slaves and the man stepped forward before speaking on an emotionless tone, "My master, Grazdan mo Ullhor, greatest of Leatherworkers, has been send here by the Great Kraznys mo Naklos, to show your master the armors he can choose from."

"Let them through," Argyll called from the upper deck of the carrack and the Forlorn stepped aside, letting the man and his followers aboard the ship. Once aboard the ship, Argyll met them with Missandei besides him, who translated everything.

"Welcome to my ship, Grazdan mo Ullhor, would you care for some wine during our dealings?" as he said this he let the man to a pair of chairs that had been placed under a piece of thick sailcloth to ward off the sun.

Grazdan bowed his head slightly in greeting and while he sat down in the offered chair, he replied, "Yes that would be most appreciated." Argyll snapped his fingers and one of the Forlorn came walking up carrying a wooden tray with two glass goblets and a large glass carafe filled with deep red wine from the Arbor.

After pouring one of the glasses he handed it to Grazdan before pouring one for himself as well.

As the two men were getting comfortable, the four slaves Grazdan had brought were unpacking the crates. They built 4 rough wooden mannequins, before dressing them up in different styles of armor.

There was no heavy mail or plate steel, only leather in different styles. The first set consisted of a simple linen tunic, leather brigandine and leather vambraces and greaves. It was supple and flexible, allowing for a great range of movement while still offering decent protection.

The second set consisted of the same as the first set, although this set was reinforced by sown-on bronze discs. This allowed it to offer more protection, but likewise adding more weight and stiffness, making it less flexible and heavier.

The third set was much the same, but instead of bronze disc, this one was two layers of supple leather, kept together by iron studs all over the armor. I was a good mix between sturdiness and flexibility offering both good protection and free movement.

The last set however was the one that immediately drew Argyll's attention. It covered the chest, back, shoulders, waist and hips. It was made of thick leather. A solid piece of hardened leather protected the upper chest, and attached to that were five leather bands covering the belly. It likewise offered full protection for the arms and shoulders, with an extra plate of leather placed at an angle protecting the neck.

Attached to the underside of the chest piece was a two-part skirt made of lamellar plates, which was split in the middle allowing a wider reach for leg movement. It covered the lower body down to halfway the upper legs. The lower legs are protected by thick leather greaves covering the leg from ankle to over the knee.

The set was finished by a pair of sturdy leather sandals and a helmet made up of a hardened leather cap with neck, cheek and face plate attached to it. On top of the helmet was the characteristic spike of the Unsullied soldiers.

Argyll handed his goblet to Missandei who held it securely, while he stood up to inspect the set. "This is amazing." He said softly, highly impressed by the craftsmanship. Missandei had translated it and Grazdan said proudly.

"This is our best set, it offers the best protection while still being flexible and light weight. It is the perfect armor for the Unsullied, and we can make it reasonably fast."

Argyll looked at Grazdan and asked, "How long will it take you to create 20,000 sets?"

Grazdan's eyes widened a little before he got the same look in his eyes as Kraznys mo Naklos had had, greed. "About four months, if we get everyone available in the city to work on them. But you must know, this set is more expensive than the standard equipment that comes with the Unsullied."

"How much more for each set?"

Argyll's question was short and direct and Grazdan made a few calculations on a piece of parchment before he answered. "Normally it would be 60 gold pieces extra per set, but seeing as we are talking about such a large order, we can do it for 45 gold pieces extra per set. Also, we will take in mind the mentioned possibility of an exceeding of those 20,000, and we can throw in those for free."

Argyll nodded thoughtfully, he was stretching the limits of his orders here, it really was a lot of money when you added everything together. However, he was absolutely sure that the ladies would be wanting this particular set of armor. After all, they had ordered him to arrange for the best of the best.

"We have a deal," he finally said after a few minutes of internal debate, "but you should know that you won't get paid until my masters arrive with the money."

"I was informed of that, and it will be okay, we have enough raw materials in stock to fill nearly three-quarters of the order, and the rest can easily be procured before it is needed."

Argyll nodded in acceptance and offered his hand, Grazdan shook the offered hand, sealing the deal.

When he let go, Grazdan clapped his hands and immediately his slaves started to repack the armors and the mannequins. Before long everything was packed up again and Grazdan made ready to leave.

He took his leave and stepped back into his cart while his slaves stored the chests away again before taking up the cart and turning it around towards the exit of the harbor.

Once they were gone, Argyll looked at the sky before asking the girl besides him, "How late is it now?"

Missandei likewise stood up and said, "Between four and five hours after noon. The markets close at sundown, so we have a while if you would like to visit the city."

With a small grin, Argyll asked, "Is that another way of saying that we have plenty of time to buy you some new clothes?"

With a cheeky look on her face Missandei looked up and with little sparkles in her eyes she nodded enthusiastically.

Unable to contain his mirth, Argyll chuckled softly and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Well then, shall we be on our way?"

Nodding again, the girl nearly ran off the ship in eagerness. Followed by the 25-strong guard, Argyll followed her until they were out of the harbor. In the busy streets Missandei quickly returned to Argyll's side and stayed besides him, so as not to be separated from her friendly new owner.

Argyll held up a passing elephant driver, and with Missandei's help, he hired the beast to take them to the market. Seeing as it was the first time for both of them, it was quite the operation to climb the wooden sports of the rope ladder up to the litter on its back. The Forlorn spread out on either side and behind the great beast before the driver prodded his great beast to walk.

It took them maybe half an hour to make their way through the busy streets and reach the cloth market. It was a great square with little shops around the edges and dozens of stalls spread out over it. The elephant stopped at the edge and after paying the driver, Argyll carefully descended from the wobbly ladder followed by Missandei.

The girl had been to the market before and on Argyll's prompting, she led them towards the stalls that sold clothes instead of fabrics. During the ride on the elephant, Missandei had explained a few things to Argyll, including the rule that slaves were not allowed to wear silks or any other expensive fabrics. Linen was all that was allowed but it was up to the owner to decide how expensive or decorated they wanted the clothes of their slaves to be.

The collar was equally subjected to rules as the clothes. They had to be locked, so the slave couldn't remove them themselves, and they had to have a ring attached to them, so a chain or rope could be attached to them. The material was free of choice, as several of the Good Masters displayed their wealth by having their slaves wear collars made of precious metals and decorated with pearls or precious stones.

The first stop was a stall manned by an old lady that smiled a kind, toothless smile to Missandei. The girl greeted her cheerfully, clearly, they had met before, and she eagerly began to tell the women about her kind new owner.

The woman made a respectful bow to Argyll, and he noticed that she didn't wear a collar, meaning that she wasn't a slave. After a few minutes of chatting, the kindly woman brought out a small fine linnen dress, just the right size. It was a clear blue color, sleeveless, and reached to her ankles. Judging by the look on her face, Argyll saw that Missandei loved the dress so he asked, "How much does she want for the dress?"

Missandei quickly asked and soon after she said, "She says 5 silvers for the dress."

Argyll nodded and fished the coins from the purse on his belt before handing them to the woman while saying, "Ask her if she has any more dresses for you, you need at least three in total."

Missandei quickly translated and the women accepted the money before pulling out two more dresses, one red and one green. They had the same design as the blue one, but only reached to her knees, instead of her ankles.

After Missandei said she liked them, Argyll handed the women another 9 silvers, and after saying goodbye, they moved to another stall that sold sandals and the like.

Argyll had Missandei fitted for a new pair of sandals, as her old ones were completely worn down, and he didn't want her to go barefoot.

With a new pair of sandals on her feet, Missandei led the group to another stall that sold collars, and Argyll picked out a nice one. It was made from soft, supple, black leather, with a silver ring, a small silver padlock, and fine silver decorations on the leather. After he paid 1 gold piece and 35 silvers for the collar, he removed the old collar and handed the new one to the girl.

She studied it for a while before she put it on and held it so that Argyll could put on the lock. With heavy hands, he did so, vowing to himself that he would remove it as soon as the Ladies arrived, for with them she would be safe from anyone who might want to harm her.

With their shopping done for the moment, Argyll asked Missandei to bring him to the food merchants, as he needed to resupply the stocks on the ships after their long journey.

It took her a while to find the food market, as she had only been there once before, but once she had found it, she immediately brought their group to the right merchant. It took a little haggling but soon Argyll had acquired enough provisions to last them until Aurora and Gabrielle would arrive.

The last stop on their trip was the steel market, Argyll wanted to order a new sword for himself, since the pirates had stolen his own and he now used one that had belonged to his former prison guard. Furthermore, Aurora had impressed on him the need to get himself fitted with a decent set of armor, fit for the rank he would receive once the army was ready.

After asking for directions when they reached the market, they were directed towards a small shop, said to be the workplace of one of the fabled Qohoric blacksmiths. When they arrived, Argyll knocked on the doorframe before they entered the dimly lit shop.

They were met by a man in his late twenties, the shop was to dark to clearly see his features but when he stoked the forge fire they saw him more clearly. He had brown hair that hung down to his neck, green eyes and a large nose. He made a kind impression, though a little sad perhaps.

"Welcome my lord," the man greeted his visitors respectfully in the Common Tongue, "What can I do for you?"

Argyll nodded in acceptance of the greeting and said, "I have heard that this shop is owned by one of the fabled Qohoric blacksmiths, is that true?"

The man nodded and replied, "That is indeed so my lord. My name is Kharbo Mott, and I was born, and learned my craft, in the Free City of Qohor."

"Mott?" Argyll asked curiously, "Are you related to Tobho Mott, the blacksmith who plies his craft in King's Landing?"

Kharbo nodded and replied, "Yes, he is my mother's cousin, blacksmithing runs in the blood of my family, but since so many of us ply that craft, there was no work for us in Qohor. So Tobho, myself and half a dozen of my family members spread out to seek our fortunes elsewhere."

Argyll nodded interestedly but asked, "But if you are such a skilled blacksmith, then why work in such a humble shop, surely your craft deserves something more than this?"

With a wry grin Kharbo replied, "You speak truly my lord, and touch upon a sore wound. My work does indeed deserve much better than this, but I chose the wrong city to work my craft. The people of Slavers Bay do not hold interest in heavy steel plate or longswords, and those are my fields of expertise. So unfortunately, I spend my days creating spearheads for the Unsullied and small trinkets for the wealthy."

With a small grin, Argyll asked innocently, "So are you busy at the moment or do you have time for a wealthy customer who wants to order a custom made set of armor, full plate and mail, in addition to a longsword, two daggers and a round shield."

Kharbo blinked a few times before his brain had worked out what his visitor was saying and as soon as he had, he nearly threw himself at Argyll's feet and said, "Of course I have time my lord, those other things can wait. I shall make you a set of armor the world has never seen before, just you wait and see." As an afterthought, he added, "It will not be cheap though, my work is without rival and once you see it, you will now it is worth the price."

Argyll nodded and asked, "How much?"

Kharbo starting scribbling on a piece of paper as he listed the things. "Full plate steel, 1,500 gold coins. Full mail, 800 gold coins. Longsword, 450 gold coins. Two daggers, 50 gold coins a piece. And a shield is 25 gold coins. That makes for a total of 2,875 gold pieces."

Looking up from his sheet, Kharbo searched his customer's face to find any indication of what he thought about his price, and was rewarded when Argyll nodded and replied, "That is acceptable. When can I expect it to be ready?"

Kharbo's eyes went a little wider before he said, "I will work as hard as I can, but seeing as I am alone, at the very least two months maybe even two-and-a-half."

Argyll nodded once more in acceptance before he said, "Then I will come by once a week to check on your progress. For now, however, I find myself in immediate need of a pair of knives for everyday use."

Kharbo bowed his head before quickly walking to a shelf and removing two simple, sheathed blades from it. One was 12 inches long and the other was 15. Both were made of simple steel but looked sturdy and sharp, they were good knives.

After inspecting both blades Argyll asked, "How much for both blades and a leather belt to hang them from?"

"For you my lord, only 1 gold piece," came the reply from Kharbo. Plucking the requested coin from his money pouch, Argyll handed it to Kharbo and after saying goodbye, he and Missandei left the shop again.

When they were back outside, Argyll hung the largest knife on his own belt, before putting the smaller on the new belt and handing it to Missandei with the words, "Here, this is for you. Even with soldiers following you everywhere, I would feel a lot safer if I knew you had at least something to defend yourself with."

With a grateful look in her eyes Missandei accepted the gift and tied the belt around her waist. She positioned the knife thusly that it hung horizontally on her back, allowing her to draw it right-handed in one move.

With all of their things done for the moment, and all plans set in motion, Argyll looked at the setting sun and said softly to himself, "And now all we can do, is wait."

Author's note: phew that was a long one, the longest for this story so far, hope you enjoyed it.

For an image of my inspiration for the upper part of the Unsullied armor check this link:

wiki/Polish_hussars#/media/File:Zbroje_

imagine this full set, but made of black leather and with the decorations replaced by Aurora and Gabrielle's coat of arms, in addition to the lower armor I described.


	23. Chapter 23

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 23

It took nearly a week for the giants to pack up everything they had, and a week more to make their way back to Hardhome. When they made their way back to the settlement on Storrolt's Point they saw that despite their more than three weeks' absence, not much had been done about rebuilding the settlement.

They were met by Tormund and the commander of the Braavosi flotilla, whom they had left in charge of their forces.

"I can see that you have been at least partially successful," Tormund said after they exchanged greetings. "Will they join you southwards, or will they join us on our journey south of The Wall?"

With a slightly raised eyebrow Gabrielle responded, "So I take it you have decided then? Are you and your people going south?"

Tormund nodded and replied, "Yes we have. My people all agree, if we are given the chance to live in freedom and safety south of The Wall, then that is a chance we have to take. A small group of our warriors have shown willing to join your cause, particularly those who have lost loved ones to that filth you intend to fight."

"That is excellent news Tormund, and yes, some of the giants will also join us in our campaign against the slavers. Most of the tribe will go with your people, but the chieftain's son, Mag, and thirty of their warriors will come with us."

"I have heard of him," Tormund replied. "They call him Mag the Mighty, because despite his young age, he is already as strong as fully grown giant and he'll be a good ally to your caus..."

At that moment, he was interrupted by a small, red-haired missile that latched itself onto his left leg and cried, "Where did you go Tommund, you said you'd stay with me."

Giving an apologetic look to the two women in front of him, Tormund held up a hand and said, "One moment please." He bent over and softly pried loose the small hands that held his leg in a death-grip. Picking up the little girl he put her on his arm and said, "Ygritte, I want you to meet a few people."

The little girl in his arms turned her head towards Aurora and Gabrielle and gave them a cautious smile, showing two missing front teeth. Opening her mouth further she said, "Hello, my name is Ygritte, who are you?"

Aurora and Gabrielle both made small bow to the girl, earning them a grin, before they introduced themselves. With that done, Gabrielle whistled on her fingers and Silvana poked her head through the covers of the sled.

"What is it mom?" Silvana asked curiously as she saw Tormund holding the little girl.

"Kick your sister and Yara out of the sled will you; we want you to meet someone." With a more or less devilish grin on her face Silvana winked and pulled her head back under the covers.

Maybe ten seconds later, Yara Greyjoy came flying from between the covers and landed face-first in a snow bank. While she was spitting out snow and curse words, the covers opened up again and Lissena's laughing face appeared.

"Are you awake now Yara?" she asked innocently, only to receive a push herself and landing next to Yara in the snow.

Now Silvana also left the sled, jumping out and landing on her two feet. Quickly running around her sister and Yara, who tried to trip her, she stopped next to her moms and asked innocently, "So who did you want us to meet?"

Turning back to Tormund, Gabrielle said, "Silvana, meet Ygritte, Ygritte, meet one of our adoptive daughters, Silvana."

With a cheery smile, Silvana offered a hand to Ygritte and said, "Hey Ygritte, nice to meet you, how old are…" she was interrupted by two snowballs hitting her on the back of the head.

"You had that coming sis," Lissena growled as she rubbed another hand of snow in her sister's face.

Spitting the snow out of her mouth, Silvana had already grabbed a handful of snow to get back at her sister, when an ominous 'SNAP' from Gabrielle's right hand turned the snow in her hands into water.

"Mum," Silvana whined while the molten snow drenched her fur glove, instantly cooling the appendage in the biting cold.

"Stop whining," Gabrielle reprimanded her, "You got them and they got you back, now make peace and come here."

Silvana nodded grudgingly and gave her grinning sister a hug, squeezing a bit harder than needed. When they released each other, the twins turned back towards their mothers and joined Yara who was already standing next to Aurora and Gabrielle.

"Girls, meet Ygritte," Aurora introduced the little girl to the two older girls. "Ygritte, this is Lissena, Silvana's twin sister, and the other girl is Yara Greyjoy, the best friend of the twins."

Ygritte blushed a little as now the trio of girls focused all of their attention on her, and she was not really used to so much attention from people who all thought her, 'cute'.

After a nudge from Gabrielle, Silvana took Ygritte from Tormund's arms and placed her on the ground next to her. Lissena took Ygritte's other hand and together the four girls wandered off to play in the snow, leaving the adults to finish their 'official talks'.

When the girls were gone, Gabrielle asked Tormund, "Is she your daughter?"

Tormund shook his head sadly and replied, "No she is not. During your absence, we were able to make a full list of casualties, more than 300 of my people were killed by those slavers, and Ygritte's entire family was amongst them."

"So, she's an orphan," Aurora stated with a small lump in her throat.

Tormund nodded, and replied, "Yes she is, one of 49 orphans in total. I have managed to find new families for all of them, and Ygritte is staying with me and my family."

Both woman nodded and talking about less consequential things, they made their way towards the coast, followed by sled, which still held Ashara and her daughter, and their Forlorn guards. The giants followed behind them in a separate group.

When they were nearly back at the ruined settlement, several riders came racing towards them. All three riders were Free Folk, riding the same breed of longhaired horses as Ferrego had given to Aurora and Gabrielle.

The middle one, a woman, waved her right arm and yelled, "TORMUND! SHIPS ARE APROACHING!"

This immediately roused their little group and the humans sped towards the beach. Aurora and Gabrielle remounted their horses and Tormund took one from the trio of Free Folk, while Gabrielle ordered half their Forlorn guards to stay with the girls and the sled.

Pushing their horses to the limits of their speed, the group rushed to the beach where they found their own small fleet of 7 warships already preparing to cast off to confront the still unknown approaching ships.

The Braavosi ships had been pulled up on the shore so they were in no immediate danger, while their crews armed themselves in case the ships proved to be hostile.

Aurora and Gabrielle quickly jumped into a couple of sloops when they reached the shore and after Tormund and their remaining guards joined them, they were rowed to the _Chain Breaker_.

Once back onboard, Aurora immediately took command and yelled across the water to the other six ships, "PREPARE TO INTERCEPT. DON'T ATTACK UNLESS THEY DO!"

The orders were repeated aboard the other ships and when everything was ready Aurora joined Gabrielle in inspecting the unknown incoming ships, which were by now only three miles out.

There were a dozen ships, each with black sails and black flags flying in their masts. Four looked to be war galleys and the others were an assortment of cargo ships and what appeared to be fishing vessels.

"Crows." Tormund growled behind them and when they looked at him with a questioning look, he explained, "That is what we call the men of the Night's Watch. Those ships come from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea."

"So, they're friendly's?"

Tormund scoffed at Gabrielle's question and replied, "Depends, half the time they come to trade and the other half they come to attack us, so don't blindly count on it."

Turning to her partner, Aurora asked out loud, so Tormund could also follow it, "What do you think love? Should we scare them off or wait and see what they have to say? They might have been sent on Ned's orders, he did promise to send word to Lord Commander Qorgyle, about Rhaegar's orders about the Free Folk."

"We intercept them at sea and find out what they want. By now Rhaegar should have spread the description of our coat of arms around the Seven Kingdoms, so they should be able to recognize our sails."

Aurora agreed and turning to Tormund she asked, "Who is likely to be in command of those ships?"

"Cotter Pyke," came the short reply, "He's a former Ironborn raider and a right true asshole. Qorgyle put him in charge of Eastwatch and he takes to the sea at every opportunity. I believe he hopes that it will give him an opportunity to continue with the activities that got him sent to The Wall in the first place."

"So, you've met him I take it?" Aurora asked, noticing the bitter tone in Tormund's voice.

"O I've met him all right. That fucker hung my brother when he went to Eastwatch for trade. Cotter claimed that my brother tried to assassinate him by selling him poisoned fish."

"Did he?" Aurora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, yea he did," Tormund replied, "But only because Cotter refused to help us when we asked for help when floods washed away our camps and destroyed our food supplies for winter. We were kind of hoping that a new commander would be more willing to help us."

Aurora grinned softly at Tormund's words while Gabrielle slowly shook her head and muttered, "I really don't understand what's wrong with people sometimes."

They waited in silence while their ships hurried towards the Night's Watch's flotilla that was closing in on them.

When only half a mile remained between them, Aurora roared across the water, "REEF THE SAILS, DROP THE ANCHORS."

Her orders were followed immediately and ahead of them the ships from the Night's Watch did the same.

Less than three hundred feet separated the two flotillas' when they finally came to a stop. The lead ship of the Night's Watch dropped several sloops with men, which continued to row towards the _Chain Breaker,_ which, showing its position as the flagship, was anchored two ship lengths in front of the others.

Aurora ordered rope ladders to be lowered down the side of the ship, so that the black brothers could climb aboard. She and Gabrielle donned their helmets before they joined the cordon of Forlorn that was spread out around railing, forming a half circle around Tormund and the railing.

The first man to set foot on the deck was Cotter Pyke, judging by the low growl that escaped from Tormund's lips. Cotter Pyke was a lean man, wiry and hard. He had small, close-set eyes and a pox ravaged face with a sparse, rough beard.

"Hello Tormund," Cotter grinned evilly as soon as he stood before the trio that welcomed them. "How's your brother? O wait, I hung him, didn't I?"

Tormund replied with a roar and a solid right hook that broke Cotter's nose and slammed him down on the deck. Immediately the dozen black brothers that accompanied him drew their swords and made to attack Tormund.

A single snap of Aurora's fingers saw a double line of Forlorn surround the black brothers on all sides, effectively neutralizing them and separating them from Cotter and Tormund who were now rolling over the deck, fighting.

They were stopped when Aurora grabbed them both by the neck and pulled them apart. "That's enough from you two," she growled, which sounded all the more terrifying by the metallic tone produced by her helmet.

She handed Tormund to Gabrielle, while keeping a hold of Cotter herself. Turning her helmet back to the man in her right hand, she growled, "Why are you here?"

Cotter's only reply was to spit at her and yell, "Fuck you, you wildling lover."

Not the least bit impressed by his deviance, but more than a bit irritated by his lack of common sense when confronted by an obviously stronger opponent, Aurora balled her left fist and planted it firmly in Cotter's stomach. The vicious, inch-long spikes, on her knuckles absolutely destroyed his organs and while yelling in pain and coughing up blood, she dropped him on the deck, tearing him up further as she removed her fist.

"LET ME MAKE ONE THING VERY CLEAR." She roared to the other black brothers. "By order of the King, any conflict that may have existed between the Night's Watch and the Free Folk, is now over.

Every member of the Free Folk, that comes to The Wall seeking safe passage will be allowed to do so, with no exceptions. They have been invited by the King to come south and settle in The North, where there is plenty of land for them to live without disturbing anyone."

She kicked the now lifeless body of Cotter Pyke and said, "Well he's dead, so who is your commander now?"

One of the men stepped forward, an imposing man of roughly fifty years old. He had a shaggy grey beard, a stern gaze, and a raven sitting on his shoulder. "That would be me." He said, "My name is Jeor Mormont, former Lord of Bear Island."

"Nice to meet you," Aurora replied dryly while Gabrielle had finally released Tormund, as he had stopped struggling the moment Aurora had dropped Cotter. "Now you tell me, why are you here?"

Not wanting to suffer the same fate of his late commander, Jeor was quick to answer, "Lord Commander Qorgyle sent word to Eastwatch that we had to send every available ship to Hardhome to help with relocating the wildli… I mean Free Folk."

'Sigh', "Then why didn't that fucking moron just tell me that when I asked him."

"Probably because he had an intense dislike of the Free Folk, he made sure to work against them wherever possible."

Having enough of all the foolishness around them, Aurora removed her helmet and said sadly to a slack-jawed Jeor Mormont, "I am really sick and tired of all the prejudice in this world, why is it so hard to just accept your fellow men for who they are and try to get along with them?"

Guessing it was a rhetorical question, Jeor was smart enough not to answer that and instead he turned to Gabrielle, who had likewise removed her helmet. "So… what is going to happen now?"

"Now," Gabrielle replied before throwing a concerned look at Aurora who was staring of into the distance toward the narrow sea. "Now, you take command of your ships and follow us back to Hardhome. With any luck, we can fit all of the Free Folk onboard your ships, which allows us to ferry the giants on our own ships."

"Giants?" Jeor asked a little disbelievingly.

"Yea, an entire tribe of them, about 200 in total. We are relocating the whole lot of them towards the southern edge of The New Gift. That's land they have been allocated by Lord Eddard Stark. The various tribes of the Free Folk are to be divided over the land, so they aren't living anywhere to close to any of the northern settlements.

It will take a few years for everyone to get used to the new situation and get to know their new neighbors. Once the Free Folk are settled and have made proper homes and settlements for themselves, the Northmen will find that they don't have to raid, as long as they have the means to care for themselves. With access to proper farmlands, permanent villages and the means to go fishing, they will have no need to, in order to feed their families."

Jeor nodded and said, "I hope you are right my lady."

"So do I," Gabrielle muttered softly to herself, while Jeor descended back down to the sloop with the rest of the Night's Watch's men. Two of his fellow black brothers carried the body of Cotter Pyke between them.

She gave the orders to raise the anchors and to turn the ships around back to Hardhome, while she went to stand next to Aurora, who was still staring across the water. Carefully untying the spiked shoulder guards, she removed the metal plates and put her head on Aurora's shoulder. "What's up sweetie. Still reminiscing about the past?"

"Yea…" Aurora replied with a sigh. "Remember back in Britain, some of these idiots are nearly as bad as the Death Eaters were. Why is it always the same in every world we come to. There is always some group who thinks they are better than others for whatever reason."

Softly turning her partner's head, Gabrielle put a tender kiss on her lips before she said, "Don 't worry about it my love, it always works out in the end. It will be alright, we are going to make sure it will be alright."

"I know, we'll make it right, we and the girls are going to make a better place for everyone."

"Now come on love, let's get this over with so we can start our plans in earnest."

They did just that. It took about a day to get everything loaded on the ships, before they loaded up the Free Folk and the giants. The Mammoths were so large and heavy that they could not load up more than 5 per ship which caused a little trouble as they would now be forced to make multiple trips.

In the end, it was decided that Mag and his thirty followers, along with ten of the Mammoths, all young and healthy beasts, would stay behind. The Free Folk who would come with them to Valyria, about 150 in total, would likewise stay behind. Everyone else would be loaded onboard the ships, who would then sail to their destination. From there, the Night's Watch's ships would return to Eastwatch, while their own fleet would go back to Hardhome to pick up the others before they returned to Braavos.

Luckily for everyone, the plan went off without a hitch and when they reached their destination, they were awaited by a party of Stark bannermen led by Benjen, Eddard's little brother. Benjen greeted them politely and after Tormund's people and the giants were back on solid ground, they said their goodbye's.

They were thanked full heartedly by many of the Free Folk and the giants made a respectful bow to them as they lifted the anchors and turned their ships back northwards. Just like on the way south, it took them a week to travel the roughly 400 miles between Hardhome and the new Free Folk settlements on the southern edges of The New Gift.

On the third day of their return journey, just after they split off from the Night's Watch's ships, Aurora and Gabrielle were on deck, teaching the girls about sailing. Yara especially proved to be a natural when it came to handling ships. She was jumping from the helm to the sails and back, and since the Forlorn had been ordered to follow her orders about sailing, she was controlling the ship as if she had been born to do so, which considering her heritage, was not unthinkable.

Suddenly the doors that led to the hold of _The Chain Breaker_ were kicked open. One of the Forlorn stepped on deck, a struggling creature wrapped in a blanket held securely in his hands. He placed the bundle on the deck before Aurora and Gabrielle and said on the familiar emotionless tone, "I found her hiding in the hold."

He unwrapped the blanket and revealed a young girl, dressed in thick fur clothing with a bundle of fiery red hair escaping from under the hood of her coat.

"Ygritte." The two women exclaimed surprised before Gabrielle asked, "What are you doing here sweetie? Why aren't you with Tormund and the rest of your people?"

The girls had come running when they heard the adults call Ygritte's name and likewise looked surprised to see the little girl standing there.

Meanwhile Ygritte looked a bit uncomfortable after being caught, and she mumbled a bit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that," Gabrielle said gently to not make her upset.

Ygritte sniffed a few times before she answered, "I… I… I want to stay with you. I want to help bring the dragons back to their home."

"Oh sweetie, if you wanted to stay with us you could have just asked us. Why did you hide yourself?"

"I didn't want to be left behind. And Tommund would never have let me go. He thinks I'm too young." now starting to sob softly, Ygritte clamped herself to Gabrielle's left leg and said, "I want to hurt the people who took my mommy and daddy."

Reaching down, Gabrielle softly pried the little girl loose and held her securely against her chest. She and Aurora were not wearing their plate armor onboard, so Ygritte buried her face in the thick furry coat Gabrielle was wearing over the mail.

" _What do you think love?"_ Gabrielle asked quietly.

" _I don't know Gabby, it's as you said with the twins, we need the guardian's permission. If what she says is true, then I doubt that Tormund will agree, he obviously liked the little girl."_

" _True, but if he had the choice of having her grow up in a village or in a palace, what do you think he would choose?"_

" _Good point, should we go and ask him?"_

" _Yea I think that's best_ _;_ _will you fly or shall I fly?"_

" _I'll fly," Aurora decided, "Just keep her occupied for the moment so I can slip off of the ship and into the water to change."_

" _Sure thing love."_

Aurora winked at the twins and Yara, Ashara didn't really like the cold air so she and Elia where spending most of the journey in her cabin, before she slipped away and threw a rope overboard which she then used to climb down into the water.

After Aurora, had snuck away, Gabrielle said softly to the little girl in her arms, "Hey sweetie, you have seen Saphirus and Violet, right?" When Ygritte nodded enthusiastically Gabrielle continued with a small grin, "Do you want to see one of the big dragons?"

At those words, Ygritte went wide-eyed and after nodding again, Gabrielle stood up from the chair and after putting the little girl back on the deck, she held her hand and led her over to the railing where she held her securely while Ygritte peeked overboard."

Once under water, Aurora had changed into the 270-foot dragon, the massive explosion in size slightly rocking the ships above her thanks to the water displacement. Carefully rising up in the water, she stuck her head above the surface to be met by a wide-eyed little redhead that was peeking over the railing of _The Chain Breaker._

Opening the sides of her maw, she took a big gulp of water in her mouth and spat it up, like a fountain. The water came easily to the same height as the flag on top of the mast, and she heard the girls cheering.

"Whoa, it's so _big_." Ygritte gasped when Aurora stuck her neck above the water, and brought the rest of her body to the surface as well.

"She's a girl, and she's the one I ride on."

"Can I ride on one too?" The sheer hope and excitement in the little girl's eyes was enough to make her smile.

"Sure thing sweetheart, we are going to fly on her in a bit. I will put her saddle on and then we are going okay?"

Ygritte just nodded again, still looking at the humongous dragon floating in the water besides them.

While Gabrielle removed the saddle form her pouch, with the help of Yara, she thought, " _I'm glad we told the Braavosi that the dragons were swimming beneath us, otherwise this might have caused a little panic."_

" _You got that right love."_ Aurora replied mentally _. "It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened._ "

" _Uh uh_."

Having removed the saddle, Gabrielle hung it under the boom of a crane that had been installed onboard and swung it out over the water. Aurora maneuvered her body under the saddle and once it was located just right, Gabrielle jumped overboard and secured the straps under water.

Once the saddle was secure, Gabrielle climbed back onboard, using her inner heat to dry her fur overcoat before she stepped back on the deck.

"So, are you ready to go sweetie?" Ygritte responded to Gabrielle's question with a cheer and ran to the railing, trying to jump on the saddle. Gabrielle caught her before she jumped and said, "Wait up, we go together okay." Turning to the twins and Yara she added, "You three behave okay, I'll be back in an hour or two."

The girls all agreed and still holding Ygritte, Gabrielle jumped onto the saddle and strapped the little girl in tight, before fastening herself to the saddle. When they were both secure, Aurora carefully swam away from the ships until she had the space she needed to lift off.

Stretching out her wings, Aurora made speed in the water until she had enough lift to come loose and flew away. Just like the girls, Ygritte cheered loudly as they soared through the sky and seemed to enjoy it immensely to be flying.

It took them less than an hour to fly back to the new Free Folk settlement, and when they came into sight, they were low enough to see the panic that Aurora's appearance caused.

Aurora quickly landed, as she saw some of the giants grabbing their ballistae-sized bows and aiming them. Quickly releasing the straps holding her and Ygritte, Gabrielle jumped down into the snow and ran toward the mass of tents.

"WAIT. DON'T SHOOT!" Tormund had recognized Gabrielle's description of the dragons and was already calming his people before they arrived at the tents.

Tormund met Gabrielle a small way from the tents and when he saw the little girl in her arms, he realized why she was there. "Thank the Old Gods you found her, I was so worried when we couldn't find her. Where did you find her?"

Gabrielle hoisted Ygritte a little higher in her arms and replied, "She had hidden herself on our ship. Quite well actually as we only found her like two hours ago. But she has something to ask you Tormund."

Tormund looked a little confused at Ygritte who blushed terribly and looked up at Gabrielle, who smiled encouragingly and said, "Go on sweetheart, you can do it."

Ygritte took a big breath and turning to Tormund she said, "I'm sorry for hiding, but I want to go with them to where the dragons come from. I want to help them hurt the men who attacked us."

Tormund was more than a little surprised to hear those words coming from a little three-year-old. However, he quickly got over the shock when Ygritte jumped from Gabrielle's arms into his and she said softly, "I'm going to miss you Tommund, but I really, really want to go."

Tormund's face softened when he held the little girl in his arms and said, "It's all right little one. If you really want to go, then you can go."

Ygritte flung her arms around Tormund's neck and cried, "O thank you, thank you, thank you."

Gabrielle smiled as well and said, "With your permission Tormund, Aurora and I will raise her as our own. She'll be a sister to the twins and a daughter to Aurora and myself, she'll be a princess one day."

Tormund looked surprised by this offer and said, "That would be more than I could ever ask for. And I know she'll be safe with you."

Gabrielle inclined her head and replied, "You have my word Tormund."

Gabrielle took Ygritte back in her arms and Tormund led them back to his family, so they could say goodbye to Ygritte as well, and to get what little possessions the girl had left behind her.

Fifteen minutes later they were back with Aurora, now accompanied by most of the Free Folk who wanted a closer look at Aurora. Gabrielle, with Ygritte hanging on her chest, climbed back into the saddle. Strapping the little girl in she said, "Say goodbye sweetheart, it's time for us to get back to the rest of the family."

Looking up with a smile on her face, Ygritte said, "Okay… mom."

Author's note:

Okay I know I said chapter 21 was the last one in Westeros, but I decided it was better to end their time there this way. Next time we'll get back to Braavos and then it's southwards, towards the battle Tyrosh.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please let me know if you did.

I must admit that the near lack of reviews is not very encouraging for me as a writer and it is causing me to lose my drive for this story. I'll do my best to keep going but my supply of chapters is out so i have to put the story on hold for a while.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I'll see you all soon.

Medieval Maniak.


	24. Chapter 24

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 24

The trip back to Braavos took them just over two and a half week, as they were burdened down by the extra passengers they were carrying. Ygritte had quickly wormed her way into the hearts of every member of their little family and her spirited and carefree nature was their main source of entertainment during the long days spent crossing the narrow sea.

Aurora had named Yara temporary captain of the _Chain Breaker_ and she spent most of her days at the helm, ordering the Forlorn sailors around. Silvana and Lissena spent their days either doting on Ygritte, or being taught by their parents about a wide range of subjects, from healing to strategy to politics.

Ashara and Elia spent most of their days in their cabin, as Ashara had caught a cold in the harsh winter weather and they wanted her back on her feet as soon as possible.

When they approached the Great Titan of Braavos, the giant statue roared into the early dawn, welcoming them back to the greatest of the Free Cities.

When they rowed out of the canal and into the lagoon, they were surprised to say the least. They had been gone for nearly seven weeks, and it was obvious that the Sealord had not been idle for their cause. Every ship they saw in the lagoon was flying flags decorated with the coat of arms of House Valaris, and there were well over a hundred ships.

"Well, looks like Ferrego has been busy," Gabrielle deadpanned while she and Aurora were silently counting the ships.

When they were done counting Aurora replied, "Yea, you can say that. That's a fleet of 138 ships, add our own to that and we have 145 ships." Gabrielle nodded softly and they stared out into the lagoon until the twins snuck up on them.

It was something they had been doing for the last week, trying to sneak up on their mothers and catch them by surprise. So far, they were unsuccessful. "You're still breathing to loud girls," Gabrielle said with a smile on her face.

Silvana and Lissena sighed disappointedly before they squeezed themselves between their mothers and the railing they were leaning on. The twins looked out into the lagoon and studied the ships ahead of them. As soon as they saw the flags on the ships around them they looked up and Lissena asked, "Mom, why are those ships flying our family's flags?"

Gabrielle looked down at the girl between her arms and said, "Because they are our ships. I think this is the fleet the Sealord would build for us. They are going with us to Valyria."

The girls looked up with excitement in their eyes and Silvana asked with a small grin, "When are we going to Valyria?"

"As soon as we have met with the Sealord, and everything is settled here, we leave for the Stepstones. Then we take Tyrosh and afterwards we make for Valyria to…." Aurora's answer was interrupted by a loud horn blast coming from a familiar boat.

The barge of the Sealord was rowing towards them and even from the distance they were at, they could see him standing on the bow of the barge. Ferrego was wearing a vest of some rich blue fabric and behind him stood Syria Forel and Tycho Nestoris.

As soon as they came alongside, Aurora ordered the Forlorn to drop a rope ladder and the three men climbed onboard. Tycho had a little trouble with climbing onboard, since he was wearing a long silvery-grey robe of soft silk, but he managed.

When the trio stood on the deck, Aurora and Gabrielle welcomed them aboard and Gabrielle said, "We can see that you have not been idle Ferrego. How did you manage to do all this?"

Ferrego gave them a full grin and said, "When I asked for volunteers to join in an expedition to colonize Valyria, there were a whole lot more than I initially expected."

"How many?" Aurora asked curiously.

A proud grin spread over his face while Ferrego said, "7,000 fighters, mostly unemployed sellswords, 5,000 sailors and 10,000 colonists, amongst whom are, around 400 blacksmiths, maybe 1,000 fishermen, a few hundred carpenters, several hundred shipwrights, and about a dozen other kinds of craftsmen. All in all, you have enough people to populate a medium sized city."

Aurora and Gabrielle let out an identical impressed whistle, before Gabrielle made a few calculations. "That will be a very tight fit though, there are 138 ships, so that would be more than 150 per ship."

Ferrego did nothing more than smile before pointing towards the Arsenal. There they saw each of the eighty-or-so docks was occupied by large war galleys. "Behold the official contribution to your expedition for the Free City of Braavos and the Iron Bank. I'm sending an armada with you to help protect our investment. They will be sailing under your banners, they will obey your commands, and fight on your behalf, but they will not settle in Valyria with you."

Now a wicked grin spread over the faces of Aurora and Gabrielle, these ships when added to the Iron Fleet, and all others waiting for them at the Stepstones, gave them almost 1.000 ships, more than enough to transport their entire army to Tyrosh in one go.

In a never before seen sign of respect, both Aurora and Gabrielle removed their arms from around the twins and made a bow of gratitude towards Ferrego and Tycho. "Thank you," they both said sincerely and Aurora added, "This is more than we ever could have hoped for, how can we ever thank you enough for this."

Ferrego nodded in acceptance of their gratitude and said, "Thank us by doing as you promised, put an end to the despicable slave trade, and restore peace and order to Essos."

"We will, I swear it."

Ferrego nodded and Tycho took the word next. "We have taken the liberty to load the ships to the brim with everything you might need. Of your loan of 20 million, half has been used for purchase of the ships and the supplies you needed. In addition, the gold you received as recompense for the traitor Bessaro's crimes is added to the remaining sum, leaving you with just over 14 million gold pieces in cash. The gold is being loaded onboard of the war galley's as we speak, and once that is done, your fleet will be ready to set sail."

The two women nodded again in acceptance of his words and Gabrielle said, "We shall leave in the morning then, we would like to spend one more day in your beautiful city. We do have a small request though, is there a flat-decked ship that we can buy, for we have found something very interesting off the coast and we would like to take it with us, but it is too heavy to put onboard of any of the already laden ships."

Tycho looked with a mild curiosity at them and Ferrego said, "I'm sure we can find something to accommodate your needs, but pray tell, what have you found?"

They shared a look before both women turned back to the men and Gabrielle said, "We found a dragon's corpse, which, from the looks of the surroundings, has been laying there since a few centuries _before_ the fall of Valyria."

Both men stared at them with a slack-jawed expression until Syrio asked curiously, "What are you going to do with a decayed dragon corpse. There can't be that much left of it if it has been at the bottom of the Narrow Sea for that long."

The ladies grinned at him and Aurora said, "You'd be surprised Syrio, a dragon's body doesn't decay when it dies, so it still looks exactly the same as the day it crashed there. And to answer your question, we are going to be using the corpse. Dragon scales make excellent light armor and their wings are fire-proof, making them ideal for capes and the like. The bones can be carved into weapon parts, a dragon-bone bow can outshoot everything, even a Goldenheart bow from the Summer Isles."

"Hmm," Syrio mused, "I would love to see that."

With a grin, Aurora replied, "We'd be happy to have you with us, if the Sealord can spare you. A man of your reputation would make an excellent ambassador for the Sealord and the City of Braavos."

Syrio looked up with surprise and not a little bit of curious interest on his face. "That would be a truly wonderful experience, if my Lord can spare me." He turned towards the Sealord and didn't have to ask the question, as Ferrego was already pondering it.

After a minute or two he seemed to have reached a decision and he said, "Syrio, pack your belongings, I am naming you the official ambassador of the Free City of Braavos. You will be stationed at the court of House Valaris. I will make Qarro Volentin your replacement as First Sword of Braavos."

With a wide smile plastered on his face, Syrio made an elegant bow and said, "By your will Sealord, I shall start packing the moment we return to the palace."

Ferrego nodded contently before turning to Tycho Nestoris. "Maybe the Iron Bank would like to send an envoy as well, to look after their investment."

Tycho nodded curtly and replied, "The council of Keyholders had already decided on that. My brother shall be going with them as representative of the Iron Bank." Turning to the ladies he added, "My brother, Tychel Nestoris, is currently overseeing the loading of the gold, he shall join us this evening at the feast the Sealord is hosting in your honor."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in acceptance and soon the Sealord and the other two left the _Chain Breaker_ and returned to their own barge. Aurora ordered the _Chain Breaker_ to be rowed toward the Purple Harbor, as the Sealord had given them permission to use the, otherwise Braavosi-only, port.

Once they reached the Purple Harbor, Aurora had the men secure the ships before giving them the rest of the day for themselves, thought they wouldn't leave the ship to do the things normal sailors did when docked after a long sea voyage. Aurora, Gabrielle with Ygritte on her arm, the twins, Ashara and Elia, and Yara left the ship to go explore the city, with their standard entourage of the dozen axe-wielding Forlorn spread out around them.

Saphirus and Violet were secured in the hold, not that it would hold them for much longer as their strength and size kept increasing rather rapidly, but Gabrielle had sedated them for the time being, and hopefully they would not wake up again before they had left the city the next day.

They spent the whole afternoon walking through the city, browsing markets and visiting the many different temples in the city. Aurora and Gabrielle never cared that much about temples, as from personal experience they knew it wasn't how you acted in a temple that pleased the gods, it was how you were in everyday life. Being kind to others and helping those less fortunate than yourself were more important things than making sacrifices in some temple, or praying to some effigy of a god they knew for a fact not to exist. Usually, they just limited themselves to the faith of whatever god, or gods, brought them to the world in question as their power was undeniable for them.

The only thing of note that happened that afternoon was an unknown lowlife who tried to rob them by grabbing Yara and holding a knife to her throat. The situation was quickly resolved when Yara elbowed him in the stomach before turning around and kicking him in the groin. They left the man in the hands of the new city watch who had come running at the first sign of trouble.

An hour before dinnertime they returned to their ship to change for the feast Ferrego had prepared for them. Silvana, Lissena, Yara and Ashara wore the same dresses they had worn during their first audience with the Sealord, and Ashara had made a cute little dress for Elia. It was lilac-colored, like the background of the coat of arms of her own house, and the chest piece was embroidered with a grey dire wolf head, showing that she was a daughter of The North as well.

For Ygritte, they had bought a dress, as there had been no time to make one in time. It was a shade of red that matched beautifully with her fiery hair, but it was the first time she was wearing a dress and she felt very uncomfortable walking around without trousers. Finally, Gabrielle put her at ease by allowing her to wear a pair of summer leggings beneath the dress.

Aurora and Gabrielle still refused to take off their armor, but Ashara had found a middle ground. They were still wearing the silver-colored mail, but it was covered by a dress made of nearly transparent silk. It was the same black of their armor so the contrast they normally wore was still present, but it looked a lot more elegant than the heavy Dragonforged plate.

To finish it off, Ashara had the both of them wear a thin silver circlet to hold their hair in place, while it hung loosely over their backs. It was obvious that Aurora and Gabrielle were just as uncomfortable as Ygritte when it came to wearing dresses. So even though she would have liked it if her two protectors were dressed a bit more to their station, Ashara took what she was handed.

The evening was spent with excellent food and meeting various important people that would be coming with them. The admiral in charge of the armada, a man called Uthero, he was rather short and wiry, but he had the looks of an experienced sailor.

Tychel Nestoris, Tycho's brother and the Iron Bank's envoy to their expedition. He looked a lot like his brother but he had a completely different personality. Whereas Tycho was very serious and organized, Tychel had a very exuberant personality combined with a very sharp mind.

The officer who was elected by the fighting men to lead them into battle, a bear of a man called Orus, he stood 6 foot 6, was broad shouldered and his body was covered with muscles. He had a large scar running along his left arm and he had several golden teeth. Like most of the fighting men who were joining them, he obviously favored the way of the broadsword, instead of the Braavosi Waterdancing style.

They feasted and had a good time for hours until the girls became too tired to keep going and they excused themselves. They informed Ferrego that they would be setting sail at noon, and he promised to be present to see them off.

When they returned to the ship, they found Saphirus and Violet still snoring contently in the hold, and the twins took the bed that was placed nearby to ensure they were present when they woke up.

The next day they awoke three hours before noon. Aurora and Gabrielle were woken up by the twins and their dragons, Saphirus and Violet bounded up their bed and started jumping up and down on top of the blankets.

"Get off me you stupid lizards," Aurora growled when Violet jumped down straight on her stomach, to the immense glee of the twins.

"Get up mom, get up," Silvana said excitedly.

"The whole city is getting ready to see us off," Lissena added. "Ash and Yara are already awake and Ygritte is terrorising the upper deck. We need to get ready."

"Uhhh," Gabrielle groaned as she stretched herself out under the blankets. "Why did we take kids again?" She asked half-jokingly to her wife who was also getting ready to get out of bed.

The twins looked scandalised at her words until Gabrielle grinned and Aurora said, "Because we love them." She threw the large blanket of off the bed, catching the two dragons by surprise and causing them to fall on the ground, all tangled up in the blanket.

The girls grinned as they watched Saphirus and Violet try to untangle themselves while their mothers started the process of putting on their armour.

Just as they were putting the last belts and sheaths in place, the door opened again and Yara came running in. "The Sealord is coming, and he is bringing half the city with him by the looks of it."

"Great," Aurora muttered, "no better way to wake up than with an audience." Turning to the others she said out loud, "Well let's go face the music, I'm sure we'll survive for a few more hours."

The others all agreed and Aurora and Gabrielle led their group to the deck, where they found Ashara, with Elia tied to her chest, watching Ygritte running around. The little girl was being chased by her babysitter, a young Free Folk woman of 20 name days called Willow, or Will for short. "Get here you little monster." Ygritte laughed gleefully as she evaded her grasping hands by sliding between the legs of a passing Forlorn, and straight into the arms of Gabrielle.

"What have you been up to, you little rascal."

Ygritte giggled in reply to Gabrielle's question before she said, "Will wanted me braided, I don't."

Gabrielle chuckled and said, "Why don't you want your hair braided, it would keep your hair from blowing around once we reach the Narrow Sea."

Ygritte pouted a little before replying, "But I like it blowing around."

Gabrielle put a quick kiss on the girl's forehead before setting her down. "If you let Will braid it now, then you can let it loose once we reach the Narrow Sea, okay?"

Ygritte thought for a moment before nodding and running back to Willow, telling her, "You can braid me."

Willow rolled her eyes before taking the girl's hand and walking her towards a chair. She sat Ygritte on the chair and began to braid her hair, while Aurora and Gabrielle walked towards the railing, awaiting the Sealord to come on board.

Ferrego boarded the _Chain Breaker_ accompanied by Tycho, Tychel, Syrio and an unknown man who they assumed to be Syrio's successor, Qarro Volentin. Following them were half dozen men carrying large boxes and crates they took from a cart which held more.

When they stepped on the deck Ferrego and his party tipped their heads in greeting, a move that was mirrored by Aurora and Gabrielle, while the twins, Yara and Ashara made a proper curtsy.

Syrio was the first to speak and he asked, "Is there a place for me to store my belongings during our journey?" he motioned to the men carrying the boxes and then to the cart which held the rest.

Aurora nodded and replied, "I'm sure we can find a place for them." She snapped her fingers and the ten nearest Forlorn dropped what they were doing and stood at attention, waiting for orders. "Help those men unload the cart and store everything in the hold." The ten soldiers saluted her and marched off of the ship to get the rest of the boxes.

Turning to Syrio Gabrielle said, "You can follow the twins Syrio, they will show you to your cabin." Syrio nodded in thanks and followed the girls below decks, to drop off the chest he himself was carrying.

When they had left, Aurora and Gabrielle turned their attention back to the others and Gabrielle addressed the Sealord, "Everything is ready for our departure," turning to Tychel she added, "We did not know where you would want to stay, but we have prepared a cabin for you on the _Emerald_ , seeing as Syrio is now occupying the last free one we had onboard."

Tychel smiled and made a small bow before replying, "That is very graciously of you my lady, but all of my belongings have already been stored on the _Titan's Pride_ , the armada's flagship, and I have a cabin onboard there as well."

"Very good, then we shall transfer you to them as soon as we reach the lagoon." She saw the Forlorn come back on board with the last of Syrio's belongings and turning to Ferrego she said, "I believe the time has come for us to depart."

He nodded and replied, "I believe you are correct, let us make for the Arsenal, I have a last surprise waiting for you there."

Looking surprised at this Aurora said, "Even more surprises, that is not necessary Ferrego, you have already done so much for us."

Ferrego grinned and replied, "I know, but this surprise is not mine."

This intrigued them to no end and Aurora quickly gave the order to remove the gangway and to prepare the ship for leaving port. To the surprise of their guests, Yara immediately took command and they watched in awe as the ten-year-old ran across the deck, issuing orders and helping the Forlorn where she could before taking control of the wheel."

Every order was followed without delay or hesitation and the _Chain Breaker_ was quickly rowed out of the purple harbor and towards the lagoon where the rest of the ships were waiting for them.

Once they were out of the canals they headed for the Arsenal and docked on the only remaining free pier. There Ferrego, Tycho and Qarro left the ship and Tycho went quickly into the fortress, only to return a few minutes later. He was followed by a dozen men, each carrying a heavy chest with a large wrapped object laying on top of it.

Turning to Aurora and Gabrielle he said, "The council of Keyholders would like me to present you with this gift. We know you yourself have no need for armor, as yours is the best anyone can get. Your guards however are not as fortunate, as became clear by Bessaro's treason. So, the Council would like to offer you this gift." At his signal the twelve men set the chests down and opened them to reveal their contents.

Each of the chests held an exquisitely made set of armor. It was pitch black in color, the same as the plate of Aurora and Gabrielle, and consisted of leather-backed mail, covered by heavy plate. The chest plates were decorated with their sigil and the full helmets were engraved with dragon scales. A silver colored cloak finished the set.

Next the men unwrapped the objects they had set aside while opening the chests and revealed twelve identical battle-axes. Each axe was identical to the next, double bladed, with a long handle made of ironwood. The blades were the same color as the armor and were engraved with a dragon wing motif. The motif was inlaid with silver to make it stand out, resulting in a beautifully made looking weapon.

"The best smiths in Braavos, some are amongst those travelling with you, have worked on these for over a month, I hope that you are pleased with them." At Tycho's words, Aurora and Gabrielle both approached the chests and carefully inspected a full set each.

When they were done, they each picked up an axe, and spinning it around their hands, they tested their balance and handling. The handles were oval-shaped and wrapped with leather to offer a better grip. The end was covered by a solid black spike, which served as both a counterweight and an additional point to attack with.

Standing up, Aurora and Gabrielle bowed slightly before Tycho and Aurora said, "This craftsmanship is amazing, please convey our gratitude to the Council. This will serve our guards very well in the battles to come."

Gabrielle nodded in agreement and snapping her fingers, she summoned the dozen Forlorn that served as their personal guards. She ordered them to change into their new armor and with the help of the men who had carried the chests, each of their guards was soon dressed in exquisite sets of heavy armor.

When the cloaks were put around their shoulders and the helmets placed upon their heads, each of the Forlorn knelt down before they were handed one of the axes by either Aurora or Gabrielle.

As they stood there, all twelve in identical armor and holding the axes, Aurora and Gabrielle couldn't help but be a little impressed. Turning to her wife Aurora gave her a small grin and asked softly, "Shall we give them the name we thought about?"

Gabrielle nodded and turning to their audience she said, "Gentlemen, I would like to introduce; _The Immortals_."

"Ooh, I like that name," Ferrego muttered clearly audible and to the amusement of Aurora and Gabrielle.

"I must admit," Tycho threw in his piece, "The name does fit. They truly look like immortals the way they are standing there."

What Aurora and Gabrielle did not tell the men was where they got the inspiration for that name. The ten-thousand Immortals of the Persian kings on Earth, which were named thusly by later sources for the fact that their numbers were constantly kept at exactly 10,000. This was something that they would be able to do with the Forlorn, if one got injured or otherwise incapacitated, they could just replace him with someone else.

Shortly after they made their way back onboard the _Chain Breaker_ , after saying their goodbye's to Ferrego and Tycho. Aurora gave the order to release the anchors and followed by the _Sapphire,_ and the _Emerald_ , they led the way towards the canal that led back to the Narrow Sea.

Once they cleared the canal, the three lead ships, the flat-deck, and the four ships they had taken during their trip to the North that followed them turned right, whereas the rest of the fleet turned southwards, towards the Stepstones.

Aurora and Gabrielle removed the outer parts of their armor and their weapons before they jumped overboard. Underwater Aurora changed into her dragon form and Gabrielle held onto her spike-crown, while she dived towards the bottom, in search of the dragon they had left there.

It took them about two minutes before they found it and Gabrielle swam down to remove the chain from around the boulder they had attached it to. Once it was loose, Aurora grabbed the dragon in her front claw and as soon as Gabrielle had a grip on her horn again, she swam back towards the surface.

They surfaced close to exit of the canal, startling the people on the ships that were sailing past them. They ignored the yells and screams that Aurora's appearance caused and instead swam towards the flat-deck.

Her own massive bulk was just enough to lift the corpse out of the water and Aurora carefully reached up with her front paw and dropped the dragon on the deck of the ship, the wood creaking under the added weight and lowering the ship's draught by three feet. Once the dragon was safely onboard, Aurora submerged herself again and turned back to her human form, before she and Gabrielle climbed onboard of the flat-deck by means of a rope that was hung from the railing.

Once they had climbed onboard themselves, they begun to inspect the dragon in detail, something they had been unable to do while it was still in the waters of the lagoon. Its color was midnight black, the overall length was just shy of a hundred feet and overall it just looked like a fully-grown version of Saphirus and Violet.

The saddle was made of weirwood and fully molded to allow a rider a secure seat. It had a high back, to lean against and the lines of nails indicated where padding had once been installed to offer comfort to the rider, though it was now rotted away.

Upon closer inspection, they saw that all the metalwork on the saddle was Valyrian steel though it lacked the, by lack of a better word, 'personality', of the blades they had held thus far. They concluded that there were two kinds of Valyrian steel, the 'normal' Valyrian steel and the Spell-forged Valyrian steel that was used for the swords.

With the help of the crew of the flat-bed, three dozen Forlorn they had stationed on it, they used ropes and chains to secure the body to the deck and afterwards they ran additional ropes to the _Sapphire_ and the _Emerald_ , which would tow it all the way to Valyria, before they returned to the _Chain Breaker_.

They turned the bows of their ships southwards and slowly returned to the head of the fleet, starting their trip to the Stepstones.

It took them four weeks to reach the western edge of the sea of Myrth. Leaving the transports and the forty warships carrying the gold from the Iron Bank, the remaining sixty-seven galleys turned their bows eastwards, towards Myr.

During the trip, Aurora and Gabrielle had received a raven from Oberyn and Dagmer, informing them that an increasing number of ships had been moving towards Tyrosh. In and on itself this wasn't so surprising, but many of the ships carried banners of Myr and Lys. This led them to believe that in light of their invasion of the Stepstones, the days of the Triarchy had returned.

Dagmer had sent several ships in disguise to the harbor of Tyrosh and they had returned with the news that large numbers of sellswords, sellsails and troops from Myr and Lys had been moving towards the city. Whether they were anticipating an attack, or if they were planning to retake the Stepstones they did not know, but it did offer them an opportunity.

If most of the troops from Myr were at Tyrosh, it would leave Myr itself vulnerable. Aurora and Gabrielle, with Tychel, Orus and Syrio, who had formed their unofficial Small Council, had had many discussions and eventually they all agreed. Taking Myr would only benefit them in the long run and they were close enough to the Stepstones for Aurora and Gabrielle to return posthaste if the Tyroshi would make any attempt to retake the Stepstones.

It was decided that Aurora, Gabrielle, the Forlorn and the seven-thousand men from Braavos would invade the city and take it by storm. The 'dragons' would induce their victory as the walls of Myr were not as tall and strong as those of Tyrosh.

The _Chain Breaker,_ the _Sapphire,_ the _Emerald_ and the _Titan's Pride_ led the assault, followed by the remaining ships carrying the Forlorn. They had about 700 of them, so the first line would be quite effective at breaking through the city's defenses.

Silvana, Lissena, Yara, Ashara and Elia, and Ygritte and Willow had been sent to one of the other ships, to keep them away from the battle. So, the only ones on the deck were Aurora and Gabrielle, the newly named Immortals, and the remaining Forlorn.

It did not take long before they were noticed and the alarm bells were rung in the city, calling what few men remained in the city to the battlements. Aurora looked at her wife with a grin and said, "What are we gonne do, do you want to turn or shall I?"

Gabrielle gave her a loving kiss before she replied, "Have fun love, I'll follow with the Immortals."

Aurora nodded and after giving her one last kiss, Aurora put her helmet on and made sure all her weapons were secure before she dove overboard and turned under water.

A few minutes later, loud screams of fear and panic erupted from the walls as the gigantic ruby and black dragon emerged from the water. Making a show of it, Aurora shook her body to clear the water and spreading her wings, she jumped/glided, towards the gatehouse, crashing into it and destroying it utterly.

A few soft cries came from under the rubble but they were quickly silenced when she bathed the debris in ruby flames, melting the stones and leaving a clear path for the army to follow through. Turning left and right she cleared the walls for 500 feet in either direction with great blasts of fire before turning her attention towards the harbor itself.

Many of the ships docked there were trying to flee, rather taking their chances with the enemy fleet than against the dragon, but a fourth fire blast cleared most of the guards from the docks. She was careful not to hit the ships, as most of the rowers onboard would probably be slaves and she didn't want to harm them.

She turned back to the city, keeping any soldiers that might still remain from entering the harbor and allowing their own army to land unobstructed.

It took less than two hours for their troops to land, move into the city and clear out any remaining resistance, which was nearly non-existent after Aurora destroyed the gates, and the defenders' morale along with it.

Gabrielle, Syrio and Orus, were able to ride all the way to the Conclave's palace, without the need to even draw their weapons. As the Immortals were battering down the doors of the palace, using a wooden pillar they found in the garden, what must have been the last of the guards came running towards them from a side door of the palace.

The roughly two dozen men were dressed in thick leather tunics and had a distinctive spike on the tip of their leather helmets. They each carried a mid-length spear and a round shield that was branded with the city seal, a crossed lens and scroll of fabric.

"Unsullied," Orus growled before jumping from his horse and taking his large heather shield from his saddle. Drawing his sword, a weapon that was eerily similar to a falcata and made of castle-forged steel, Orus took up a defensive position.

Before the Unsullied could reach them though, the Immortals came running and swinging their new weapons, they crashed into the flank of the Unsullied group. For Gabrielle, this was her first image of the Unsullied and she was very curious to see how they would perform against their own elite soldiers.

She was not disappointed. Four of the Unsullied were cut down on the initial charge, but the others were able to close ranks with an incredible amount of discipline and effectiveness. Using their spears and shields in a phalanx formation, they were able to withstand the onslaught of the Immortals and even find a few rare weak spots in their new armor.

Utilizing the superior speed and maneuverability of their weapons, the Unsullied were able to push back the Immortals and even wound them, until Gabrielle jumped into the fray. Surprising both Syrio and Orus, she jumped from her horse and using a bench as a step, she somersaulted through the air before landing directly on the Unsullied, breaking apart their formation. Using only the flat side of her axe, she knocked the Unsullied unconscious and ordered the Immortals to bind them.

When that was done, Gabrielle walked back to the gates, once again flanked by the Immortals who, despite some small cuts and other minor wounds, were still very much fit to fight. Upon reaching the gates she threw a single look at the pillar that lay in the exact place where it was discarded by the Immortals, before looking back to the axe in her hands.

Chuckling softly under her breath she turned back to the gates and hefted her axe in preparation to strike. Upon reaching the gates she started hacking at the already weakened spots left by the makeshift battering ram and it did not take too long before she was through, the two doors slamming open with the force of her last blow.

Inside the doors, they found something resembling a throne room, but instead of only one throne on the raised dais, it held a half round table with nine chairs behind it. Cowering behind the table were who Gabrielle thought to be the nine men who would normally occupy those chairs.

Standing before the dais were a double line of city-guards, 60 strong in total, all armed with spears, shields and swords. Gabrielle grinned savagely and because she wasn't wearing her helmet, everyone could see her eyes when she looked back up. Pitch black and burning.

"Let's dance motherfuckers."

Before anyone could respond she dropped her axe and crossed her arms before her chest. Quickly swinging them outwards again, a great half-moon of sapphire blue fire spread out before her and slammed into the guards, instantly knocking them away and out cold. Picking up her axe again she marched towards the nearest unconscious guard and pulling off her right glove, she pressed her bare hand against the men's face.

Using the tricks, she and Aurora learned on Grey Gallows, she 'connected' to the other 59 unconscious men and 'recruited' them all. Within a minute, the men stood up, picked up their weapons, walked over to Gabrielle and spread out on either side of her and the Immortals, pointing their weapons towards the dais and their former employers.

"How did you do that?" The surprised voice from Orus sounded from behind her and when Gabrielle turned towards him and Syrio, she saw them standing there with a slack jawed expression on their faces.

With a cheeky grin on her face she replied innocently, "How did I do what?" This completely confused Orus and Syrio and feeling a little pity, Gabrielle added, "When Valyria rose, we didn't use just dragons to conquer the world, but magic as well."

"Wait a moment," Syrio asked with a different kind of confusion on his face, "you said ' _we_ ' didn't you? How can that be when you and Aurora look not a day older than 25 name days?"

Holding up a finger for him to wait, Gabrielle turned to the soldiers besides her and said, "Arrest and secure them, full incapacitation." The men all saluted and as a single unit they marched forward, closing in on the cowering men behind the table.

While they were busy, Gabrielle motioned for Syrio and Orus to follow her and she led them up a flight of stairs that was hidden by a side door and they climbed up till they reached the over walk of one of the towers.

Pointing at the harbor, where even from the mile away they were, they could clearly see the large red dragon dozing in the sun, Gabrielle asked, "Do you know why you are only seeing one of our dragons?"

"You mean there really is a second one of that size?" Orus sounded a little frightened.

Gabrielle nodded before looking very serious at the two men. "You two are going to be part our military council, so you should know about this. However, I will require an oath from both of you not to tell anyone else."

Both men immediately nodded and after Gabrielle gave them the words, they both made the oath, unknowing it was a magical oath fueled by the inner fire of Gabrielle and Aurora.

Once they were done, Gabrielle raised her re-gloved right hand and before the eyes of both men, she changed it into a sapphire blue paw with razor sharp claws. "We don't ride the dragons, Aurora and I _are_ the dragons."

Syrio had to grab the railing to keep standing while Orus just fainted on the spot. "How… how…"

Gabrielle smiled softly while she turned her paw back to her gloved hand and replied to Syrio, and the re-awakened Orus, "We are not from around here. We were sent by the Old Gods to fix matters around here. And to prepare the world for the return of the Long Night and the resurgence of the Others.

But in order to do so, we need an army, and that's why we are going to Valyria and why we are taking on slavery. We estimate that there are between three- and four million people suffering in slavery all over Essos. If we save them, we'll have no shortage of volunteers for that army."

Both Syrio and Orus had to sit down upon hearing that until Orus looked up and asked softly, "So for you we are just a means to an end?"

Gabrielle sat down before them and said carefully, "Yes and no. Yes, we need to use you to get what we need, but we are not going to misuse you. We value human life and we'll do our best to save as many as we can, but sometimes we have no choice. If we are not ready when the Long Night returns, the whole world will fall under its influence and that will be the end of human life."

The two men across from her nodded softly in understanding before they all fell into a thoughtful silence. Much had been revealed to them and they would need time to come to terms with it.

It took them just till the end of the day to gain complete control of the city, after all it wasn't hard with a gigantic dragon discouraging any and all possible resistance, and the ruling body in chains.

Gabrielle had ordered any and all slaves to be released and the magisters were forced to transfer control of every Unsullied left in the city, numbering around five-hundred. Once that was done, they left Tychel with 2,500 soldiers to maintain control in the city and to oversee the preparations for emptying it out. Aurora and Gabrielle had decided that it would be best to not give anyone a reason to return here and after the city was abandoned, they would completely destroy it.

The next day they rejoined the fleet, taking the five-hundred Unsullied with them, and they resumed their journey to the Stepstones, the fall of Tyrosh was coming ever nearer.

Author's note :

So here is another chapter of Angels in Westeros. I hope you all enjoy it and we're getting ever closer to the big climax of the first part. Just one more chapter and then it's time for the big moment, the Battle of Tyrosh.

So, please review and tell me what you think, the more reviews I get, the more motivated I'll be to update sooner.

Till next time,

Medieval Maniak


	25. Chapter 25

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 25

It took them 12 days to sail to Bloodstone, as they were taking special care to stay far away from Tyrosh to prevent them from being spotted by their scouts. Upon nearing the island, they could see that Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon had not been idle in their absence.

The entire coastline of Bloodstone was dotted by stone watchtowers with massive braziers at their tops, serving no doubt as an early warning system in case of an attack. Their suspicions were proven correct as shortly after they had appeared on the horizon, the braziers were lit and with their enhanced eyesight, Aurora and Gabrielle could see a flurry of activity take place on the island.

By the time they were within a mile of the harbor's entrance, they were met by ranks upon ranks of soldiers waiting with drawn steel to throw any invader back into the sea. On either side of the island, vast amounts of ships prepared to take them into a pincher move and crush their fleet in the harbor if need be.

Aurora and Gabrielle were looking upon the military preparations with a mix of satisfaction and amusement before Aurora ordered the forlorn to show their colors. On the bow of the _Chain Breaker,_ the _Emerald_ andthe _Sapphire,_ large black banners were unfurled, proudly displaying the sigil of House Valaris. Seconds later they were followed by the _Titan's Pride_ and the rest of the fleet.

Aurora and Gabrielle had found the trio of men they had left in charge, standing on the docks, amidst of their men. Watching the realization dawn on them was highly amusing to the both of them.

As soon as the banners were unfurled, all three recognized the sigil immediately. Aurora had left one of the banners behind on Bloodstone to allow their army to familiarize itself with their sigil and to recognize it if they came upon it. Needless to say, within minutes everyone on the docks and the encroaching ships realized who they were dealing with and slowly but surely, cheers started to emerge. By the time the lead galleys were nearing the docks, a jubilant atmosphere had spread around the island.

The _Chain Breaker_ and the _Titan's Pride_ docked on either side of one of the piers and gangplanks were installed before delegations from both ships stepped onto the docks. Aurora, Gabrielle with Ygritte on her arm, the twins, Ashara, Yara and Syrio left the _Chain Breaker_ , while opposite them, Orus, Uthero and several others left the _Titan's Pride_.

They were met by Oberyn and Dagmer with the Greatjon shortly behind them. As soon as they stood face to face, the trio of men made a small bow in greeting and Oberyn said, "Ladies, it is very good to see you again, though there are noticeably more of you." He first looked at Ygritte, who was avidly looking around in Gabrielle's arms, then to Orus and Uthero, and finally the massive fleet that had dropped anchor outside the harbor.

Both ladies laughed heartedly and Aurora replied, "Trust me Oberyn, there is a lot more to tell, and a whole lot of people to introduce you to." She aimed to the _Sapphire_ which had docked on the pier next to theirs and the eyes of Oberyn, Dagmer and everyone in sight who was not from the North, went wide with shock.

The Greatjon and the Northerners' reaction was quite the opposite, swords and axes were grasped and arrows were knocked and drawn. The reason was quite obvious, Mag and five fellow giants had stood up from their place in the open hold and carefully stepped on the docks.

While Mag and his companions made their way towards them, Aurora quickly ordered everyone to lower their weapons, as she had noticed the raised club in Mag's hands. Turning to the men before her, Aurora introduced them. During the journey, several of the Free Folk who knew the Old Tongue, had been teaching the giants how to speak the common tongue, so they could understand what was being said, though replying was a bit difficult still.

"Gentlemen, allow me to introduce, Mag the Mighty, son of the chieftain of the Giants of the Haunted Forrest." Turning to Mag she added, "Mag, meet, Prince Oberyn Martell, Dagmer Cleftjaw and the Greatjon Umber, the commanders of our expedition forces."

Mag made a decent impression of a small bow, followed by his fellow giants and the trio of men replied in kind. Gabrielle spoke next, hefting Ygritte a bit higher on her arm. "This little cutie is Ygritte, the latest addition to our little family. And those men are Syrio Forel, Admiral Uthero, and Commander Orus, the leaders of the Braavosi part of our forces." She indicated each man in turn as she introduced them.

Turning back to the trio before them Gabrielle added, "We left Tychel Nestoris, the ambassador of the Iron Bank, behind in Myr, along with 2,500 men."

"So, you have taken Myr?" Dagmer asked with little surprise in his voice. When Gabrielle nodded, he turned back to the two men besides him and said, "Pay up, I won." Both Oberyn and the Greatjon handed him a small bag of coins, which he put away with a grin. Looking over his shoulder he whistled on his fingers before turning back to Gabrielle, "I want you to meet someone."

From the ranks of the Ironborn behind him a single figure made its way towards them. It was a woman with long, braided, iron-grey hair and dressed in a cuirass of hardened leather reinforced with steel plates. In her left hand, she held a round wooden shield and in her right hand, a war axe. Two long daggers were placed in her belt and her face showed a long thin scar on her left cheek.

The woman walked up to Dagmer and placed a soft kiss on his lips before turning towards the others. "I would like you to meet my wife, Alys Umber."

Dagmer's words were followed by Alys making a short bow and saying, "It's an honor to meet you my ladies."

Aurora and Gabrielle inclined their heads in turn and Gabrielle replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I can see why Dagmer spoke so highly of you."

Alys gave her husband a loving smile before taking her place at his side.

The rest of the day was spent explaining everything that had happened to Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon, and they in return telling them everything that had happened at the Stepstones during their absence.

As it turned out additional reinforcements had arrived from Westeros. 80 ships had come from the Iron Islands, carrying 3,000 people, amongst them 1,800 warriors. Furthermore, the Redwyne fleet had dropped off reinforcements on their way back to The Arbor, 8,000 men from the Stormlands and the Vale, under the command of Lord 'Bronze' Yohn Royce.

Following the orders of Aurora, they had put all available blacksmiths to work at forging full plate steel armor for the Forlorn on Gray Gallows, a process that had taken quite some time, but was just about finished.

The reports from Tyrosh were less optimistic though, according to Dagmer's scouting party, the Triarchy had been officially reestablished. They had made peace as a direct result of their conquest of the Stepstones, seeing it as a threat to their position and thinking, not wrongly, that they intended to conquer Tyrosh next.

They had joined their efforts and used all means at their disposal to reinforce Tyrosh, as it was closest to the Stepstones and stood the best change to withstand a direct assault. They had hired every sellsword and sellsail in a 500-mile radius, including some rather famous names; the Second Sons, the Windblown, the Stormcrows, the Company of the Cat, and most troubling, the Golden Company, all in all over 20,000 sellswords.

In addition to this force, the Triarchy had done something almost never before seen; they had summoned a sizeable part of their own citizens to arms, for a total of twice the size of the number of sellswords.

Add to this the Dragonstone walls, and they would have a very hard time to take the city. They had 40,000 men left from taking the Stepstones, after leaving Tychel at Myr they had 5,000 left from the ones that had come south with them from Braavos and North of The Wall, and they had received 9,800 reinforcements from Westeros. They had 500 Unsullied and 7,000 Forlorn, as they had reinforced their ranks at Myr, and added the pirates that had been captured on the rest of the Stepstones during their conquest. Giving them a grand total of about 62,000 men, roughly the same as what they expected to face in Tyrosh.

In a traditional battle, this would give them a fair chance, especially with Aurora and Gabrielle leading them, but when faced with the indestructible walls of Tyrosh, they would probably lose over 5,000 men, just getting to the wall, let alone taking them.

When they heard all this Aurora sighed, "I think it would be best if we went to scout it out for ourselves. Gabrielle and I might be able to find some weaknesses in their defenses that your scouts have missed."

Turning to Dagmer she said, "Please have the _Chain Breaker,_ the _Sapphire_ and the _Emerald_ , stocked with provisions and valuable trade goods, also replace the sail with blank ones. We'll pose as traders offering our wares to the merchants, this might bring us into contact with the sellswords, and we can see if we might 'convince' some of them to join our side. Given enough gold, most any sellsword will be willing to reconsider an assignment."

The others all agreed with this course of action and afterwards, Aurora and Gabrielle visited the blacksmiths to give them a new assignment. They had brought Mag and the rest of the giants with them and the smiths were visibly nervous in their towering presence.

They ordered the smiths to clad each of the giants in full plate steel, as thick as possible. If they could get the giants to be immune for arrow-fire, they had a way to avoid using a battering ram to break down the gates. This would save them dozens, if not hundreds of lives that would otherwise be lost in the attempt to break them down.

The master smith hesitantly accepted the assignment, though he told them that they did not have enough steel to complete it, seeing as a large part of the supplies they had found had been used for the Forlorn.

"How much do you have left?" Aurora asked a bit disappointed that her idea had been put down immediately.

"Enough for three, maybe four, complete sets. We could scavenge more from the town and the fortress, but it'll give us only enough for at most one more set, seeing as if we make them as you want them, they'll be between 280 and 320 pounds of steel each."

Aurora grumbled a bit and walked away to think, while Gabrielle stayed behind and said, "She'll come around, she had just hoped to have it done before we took Tyrosh. She doesn't take disappointment well. Try to make the four sets, use whatever you need, but make sure they are strong enough. I want them to be able to take a ballista bolt to the chest and walk away from it, so focus on quality, not quantity."

The master smith nodded in acceptance of his assignment and Gabrielle asked Mag to choose four of his strongest warriors to be clad in steel. When he had done that, those four were left behind while the others left the forges.

By then it was nearing dinner time, so they made their way towards the dining hall of the fortress, where all the captains and officers of their combined armies were gathered. During dinner not much happened, but several came before them with requests or disputes to be settled.

Near the end of the dinner, a hooded figure entered the hall and approached the table where Aurora and Gabrielle and their family were seated. The figure stood 5 foot 6 inches tall and had a greatsword slung on its back. By its stance, they saw it was carrying something beneath the wide black cape.

The two Immortals who stood on either side of the table made their way to intercept the figure, which they did on a spot only ten feet from the table. Addressing the figure, Gabrielle stood up and said loudly, "Who are you, what is your business here?"

A single hand came from underneath the cape and lowered the hood, revealing a relatively young face, with a large nose and grey eyes. He couldn't be more than 13 name days old and his long hair was dark and thin, but the most distinctive feature of his face was the horrible scar. The entire right half of his face was covered by an angry raw burn scar. By the looks of it, it could not have happened more than a few months ago, as small pieces of the scar were still not fully closed. His hair was combed over it to hide it a bit, but it was still shockingly visible.

Without paying any heed to their surroundings, Gabrielle jumped over the table, knocking several plates and jugs off of it and approached the boy before her. As he saw her jump over the table, the boy reached behind his back and drew a large knife, all the while keeping his other arm hidden behind the cape, along with whatever he was carrying in it.

Raising her hands in a sign of peace Gabrielle said to the Immortals who had raised their axes in preparation to strike, "Drop your weapons," turning to the boy she said, "I'm not going to harm you, I just want to look at your wound."

The boy nodded slowly and lowered the knife a bit, but didn't relax his grip on it. As Gabrielle carefully inspected the burn she asked softly, "What is your name?"

The boy visibly hesitated before he answered, "Sandor… Sandor Clegane."

A murmur went through the hall at that name and several knives were drawn, especially amongst the Dornishmen. A single look from Aurora was enough to prevent anyone from reacting and Oberyn was pushed back into his chair by Dagmer and the Greatjon who were seated beside him.

Standing up from her seat Aurora said loudly, "OUT, ALL OF YOU." The only ones who remained seated were the members of the military council, Dagmer, Oberyn, the Greatjon, Orus, Syrio and Uthero, and the members of the family.

Meanwhile Gabrielle was still focused on Sandor, carefully inspecting the wound until she felt something move beneath his cloak. Looking him in the eye she asked softly, "Who are you hiding under there?"

Hesitating again Sandor finally opened his cloak again and revealed his secret. A small girl, roughly the same age as Ygritte was clasped around his torso. She had a thick bundle of black hair and a very frightened look on her face. "This is my sister, Layla."

Gabrielle smiled kindly at the little girl while Aurora told Ygritte to walk over to them, hoping that someone her own age would put the girl at ease a little. Ygritte quickly did as her mother asked and ran around the table towards the trio on the other side of it.

Ygritte softly pulled on Layla's dress and when she had her attention she said, "My name is Ygritte, do you wanne go play?" Layla looked up to her brother and when he gave her a small smile, she slowly released her arms and legs from around Sandor and he placed her gently on the floor.

Ygritte took Layla's hand and softly pulled her away towards a corner of the hall, where she sat down and Willow handed her a small box with dolls and carved wooden animals. Patting the floor besides her Ygritte invited Layla to sit down, which the other girl soon did and she handed her a doll.

Meanwhile Aurora had joined Gabrielle and asked softly, "Why are you here Sandor? And how did you get burned so badly?"

Sandor thought a moment before answering. "My brother came home after the sack of King's Landing. I had never seen him so angry before. When I asked what had happened, he grabbed me by my neck and pressed my face into the fireplace. When father tried to stop him, he let me go to pull out his sword and he killed him. Mother screamed as she saw father die and Gregor choked her to death while I fled. I ran to Layla's room and pulled her out of bed before fleeing from the keep.

We sought refuge in the woods and stayed there until dawn had come and we could see smoke rising from the keep. When we saw others rushing towards the keep I knew Gregor had left so I snuck back into the keep and gathered what provisions and coins I could find. I took father's sword and stole the last horse from the stables. I brought Layla to the septon in the village and he told me what Gregor had done. He said I should try to join you as Westeros was no longer a safe place for anyone with the name Clegane.

We traveled to the coast and there I sold the horse and bought passage for us to this island on a cargo ship. We have been hiding for the last month, as I saw the banners of the Martells flying on the walls and I knew they would hurt us if they could, to avenge their sister. I saw you arrive today and so here I am. I will swear you my sword, if you promise to keep my sister safe."

Aurora and Gabrielle were silent following his tale until Aurora stood up and said, "Oberyn, come here." The tone on which she said this made it clear to the others that he was not to try anything or risk their extreme displeasure, but Oberyn did not heed her words.

As soon as Dagmer and the Greatjon let go of him, he stormed towards them, only to be stopped by the Immortals who grabbed his arms as he tried to put them around Sandor's neck.

Sandor had spoken so soft that only Aurora and Gabrielle had heard his tale so Aurora forced Oberyn to look at Sandor's wound and she said, "Take a good look Oberyn, this boy has just as much reason to hate Gregor as you do. So, if you ever try to harm him, I'll harm you."

Oberyn was startled at seeing the massive burn covering half of Sandor's face and he slumped in the arms of the Immortals. They dropped him to the ground while Aurora told Oberyn what Sandor had just told them.

When she had told him everything, Oberyn looked up sadly towards Sandor and said honestly, "I'm so very sorry, my grief led me to make a hasty decision and I was wrong. Can you forgive me?"

Sandor nodded silently in answer before he was claimed by Gabrielle again, who finished her inspection of his burn.

Aurora looked over her wife's shoulder and asked softly, "What are we dealing with Gabby?"

Gabrielle finally turned away from Sandor's face and replied just as soft, "Severe third-degree burns, partially revealed bone tissue and severe damage to the facial muscle structure. If I had access to the potions from back on earth it would be fully reversible, but as it stands, the most I can do is repair the muscle damage and re-cover the bone tissue, there is little I can do for the skin damage, he will carry it with him for the rest of his life, though I might be able to lessen his discomfort somewhat."

"Do what you can for him." Aurora replied before turning her attention to Sandor. "Did you mean what you said about swearing your sword to us?"

Sandor nodded without hesitation but said, "Yes, but only if you swear to protect Layla, she's all I have left and I cannot lose her."

Aurora briefly looked to the corner where Ygritte and Layla were playing happily before turning back to Sandor. "You have my solemn oath, as long as you remain faithful to us, your sister will live under the protection of our House."

Drawing the sword from behind his back, Sandor placed it before him and knelt on one knee. "I, Sandor of the House Clegane, swear to serve you, from this day until my last day. In peace and in war, in victory and defeat, I will stand as a shield to protect your House, my sword will strike down all those who oppose you. May the Warrior give me the strength to uphold my oath. May the Father judge me fairly when my end has come, and may the Stranger welcome all those I will send him in your name."

Aurora and Gabrielle looked pleased with his words, and Aurora placed her right hand on Sandor's left shoulder, "I Aurora, of the House Valaris, accept your oath. From this day, until your last day, you shall have a place at our table and a bed under our roof. Your sister shall be raised under our protection and will know safety and a loving home. Now rise Sandor."

Sandor did as he was bid and he put his sword back in its sheath. He stood just that bit taller as Aurora looked down on him and after a while she said, "Gabrielle will care for your wound and once it is healed as far as possible, you'll be my squire until you're ready to be knighted."

Sandor bowed in gratitude and after a nod from Aurora, he followed Gabrielle out of the hall and towards the infirmary, which was located two floors up.

When they had left, Aurora turned to Oberyn and said coldly, "Next time I expect you to think before trying to kill someone. Try this again and I'll send you back to Dorne."

Oberyn nodded softly before he was picked up by Dagmer and the Greatjon and was escorted out of the hall.

With that taken care of, Aurora slowly walked to the playing children and sat down behind Ygritte, taking up one of the loose dolls and playing along with her and Layla.

The next week was used with preparations for their scouting trip to Tyrosh. Aurora and Gabrielle had decided, much to the children's disappointment, to not take any of the girls with them. They would be taking 100 of the Unsullied and 200 Forlorn posing as sailors, in addition to the Immortals, to provide them with security if need be.

After a lot of deliberation, and not of their own free will, Dagmer and the others had managed to convince them to leave their armor behind on Bloodstone, as it stood out like a sore thumb and would never convince anyone that they were simple merchants. Instead they wore richly decorated silk robes covering their entire bodies save their heads, which would hide the Valyrian steel mail they wore underneath.

They had taken the mail from the armor they had taken from Dragonstone and refitted it to their own bodies. To hide the sound of the mail, they wore little golden bells in their hair and had attached bells to their robes.

This meant however, that they would also have to leave behind most of their weapons, as the axes, and the hand-and-a-half swords were too large to conceal on their person. Aurora was vehemently opposed to this when Oberyn suggested it and after a very heated discussion, it was decided to give their swords to the Immortals, who would carry them until they might have need of them. They did carry their short swords and daggers with them though, as they could be hidden beneath the robes.

At the end of the week, Aurora and Gabrielle said goodbye to their little family, telling the twins to make sure Saphirus and Violet behaved, and the others to continue their preparations for the siege. Aurora had given them several designs for siege engines she wanted them to build and a large force of carpenters were put to work on constructing them. Ship-mounted onagers, ballistae and scorpions were amongst these designs, but also a mobile battering ram, covered by a housing of bronze plates to prevent the defenders from setting it on fire, and two dozen trebuchets.

Just before noon they set sail southwards, in the direction of Lys, so as to approach Tyrosh from the south and not raise the suspicion they would if they came from the west. They sailed south for a full day before turning around and heading for Tyrosh directly which they reached at noon the second day.

As they approached the city one thing stood out amongst all others, Tyrosh was a fortress first and a city second. The black walls of fused Dragonstone stood a-hundred-foot-tall and the many towers were occupied by siege engines. The large harbor was a mass of activity, hundreds upon hundreds of ships lay moored at the docks or where anchored in the bay. They could recognize some of the banners from famous sellswords or sellsails.

Just outside the walls were multiple encampments, the nearest one was a large encampment surrounded by golden banners. In the centre stood a large tent of golden cloth, surrounded by pikes decorated with gilded skulls, the encampment of the Golden Company. They could see a large amount of horses in a nearby field, guarded heavily and a little further away, a few dozen elephants stood lumbering in a pool of water.

In the bay, they saw forty-or-so galleys surrounding a galleass bearing a peacock on a red background, ships belonging to the Saan family, who, according to Dagmer, were notorious pirates from Lys.

Their small flotilla was soon noticed by the lookouts on the walls and horns alerted the patrol vessels who soon intercepted them. Six galleys intercepted them and two went alongside each of their ships. Grappling hooks were thrown and boarding parties jumped onboard, only to be met by the wall of shields and spears of the Unsullied.

The two sides were locked in a stand-off, until Aurora stood up and yelled to the other ships, "There is no need for hostility here, we are simple merchants coming to offer our wares to your brave soldiers. Our guards will not resist if you wish to search our vessels."

This somewhat placated the captain of the patrol vessels and he boarded the _Chain Breaker_ himself, after ordering his boarding parties to hold back for the moment. The captain, a man with a purple beard and bright green hair walked toward the platform before the aft castle where Aurora and Gabrielle had been seated beneath an overhang of sailcloth.

Said ladies were now standing before the platform and made a slight inclination of their heads in greeting of the man, something that was replied to in kind. The man introduced himself as, "Moreo Tumitis, Captain of the _Storm Dancer_."

"My name is Gabrielle," came the reply, "and this is my partner Aurora, we are traveling merchants in precious metals and gemstones. Our guards are just here to protect ourselves and our merchandise."

Moreo nodded politely and replied, "Then I am sure you will have nothing to hide, my men will search your ships and if they find nothing but your professed cargo, you are free to continue and try to sell your wares."

Aurora spread her arms in a welcoming gesture and said, "By all means Captain, please sate your curiosity and you shall find we have nothing to hide."

Moreo nodded again and issued a few orders, upon which groups of his men went below decks of all three ships and went to investigate. Half an hour later they came back up and after they reported their findings, Moreo turned back to Aurora and Gabrielle and said, "You are free to go. Please enjoy your stay in our beautiful city, but be advised, a hostile army is camped in the Stepstones and we anticipate an attack to come any day now."

"We shall be on our guard, captain, thank you for the warning." Aurora handed Moreo a small bag of coins and said, "A small appreciation for your welcome and your words of warning."

Moreo accepted the bag with a grin and said, "Always glad to be of service. Good day to you and I hope your stay will prove fruitful for you." He nodded once more in greeting and went back aboard his own ship, followed by the boarding parties all returning to their own ships as well.

Now with the way clear, they sailed on to the harbor and docked on one of the few empty docks, where they were met by one of the harbor masters. After telling them of their purpose, they paid him the docking fee and then they were left to their own devises.

Before they left the ship, Aurora and Gabrielle retreated back to their cabin and Gabrielle removed an ornate wooden cylinder from a locked chest beneath their bed. Putting the cylinder in her robes, Gabrielle turned around and they each took a bag with precious stones and one with coins from a second chest and attached both to their belts.

Once back on deck, Aurora snapped her fingers and immediately the 12 Immortals formed a protective formation around them, with the four carrying their swords directly in front of them, allowing them to draw them if the need arose.

The small group left the _Chain Breaker_ and headed towards the encampment of the Golden Company, a walk that took them nearly half an hour due to the crowds that covered the markets outside the walls.

When they arrived at the edges of the encampment, they were stopped by two sentries, one a knight and the other an archer. The knight took the word and said, "HALT, what be your business here?"

Aurora stepped forward from between the Immortals and said, "We are merchants in precious stones and metals, we wish to meet with your Captain-General, Myles Toyne, we have a potentially very profitable proposition for him."

The knight looked calculatingly at their company before nodding his head, "Very well, you may proceed, but don't try anything funny while you're here." This last part he added with a dark look at the massive axes carried by the Immortals.

"Of course, Ser…" Aurora inquired for the knight's name.

"Lord," came the gruff response, "Lord Laswell Peake of Starpike."

"My apologies Lord Peake, but if I may, where can we find the Captain-General?"

Laswell thought for a moment before he replied, "He'll be having his noonday meal along with the rest of the commanders at the great pavilion in the centre of the camp.

Aurora bowed her head slightly and replied, "Thank you my Lord, we shall proceed there at once."

Lord Laswell nodded gruffly and stepped aside letting them enter the encampment. They followed the improvised roads that led through the camp, all the while paying close attention to their surroundings and the activities of the soldiers around them. They were somewhat impressed, as it was clear that, for sellswords at least, the Golden Company men were very disciplined and the camp was neat and organized.

When they arrived at the pavilion they were once again stopped by a pair of sentries, both knights judging by their armor and they each held a halberd in their hands. Preempting their questions Aurora stepped forward and said, "We are traders from Westeros with a message for your Captain-General, please ask him if he will see us."

One of the knights nodded and entered the pavilion, while his comrade stayed and blocked their entrance. After a few minutes the other knight returned and said, "The Captain-General and the other officers will see you, but be advised, do not draw weapons or make any threatening moves. The pavilion is well guarded."

Aurora nodded and the two knights let their company pass. Eight of the Immortals stayed outside, and only the four carrying their swords accompanied them inside the pavilion.

Inside the large tent, they saw a large table, seating four men, with an additional twelve armored knights spread out around the edges of the pavilion.

From left to right were seated, a large black man with a feathered cloak of green and orange, a portly man with a big round head and mild grey eyes, a jug-eared man with a big nose and a crooked jaw, and finally a large-set young man with the looks of a Dothraki screamer, though dressed in plate steel and a broadsword lay next to him on the table.

When they stood before the men, both Aurora and Gabrielle made a small bow and filtering the men through the information they had gotten from Dagmer they guessed their names. The black man was Black Balaq, a summer islander who commanded the Company's archers. The portly man was Harry Strickland, the company paymaster and second in command. The jug-eared man was Myles Toyne, the Captain-General. And finally, the Dothraki man was Horro, the commander of the Company's cavalry.

Gabrielle was the first to speak and said, "Greetings my lords, we are merchants from Westeros and were asked to deliver a message to you. However, because of the nature of the message, we were asked to give it to the Captain-General, and the Captain-General alone. So, if you wish to hear it, I am afraid that I need to ask you to order your guards to leave the pavilion, ours will go as well if that will satisfy you."

Myles and Harry looked at each other and conversed softly for a minute before Myles looked up and said, "Very well, you have awakened my interest." With a wave of his hand, Myles send the dozen knights out of the tent, and the Immortals left as well, after Aurora snapped her fingers and they handed them each one of their swords.

Upon seeing that, both Myles and Horro looked suspiciously and Aurora said with a grin, "Think nothing of it, just a precaution for us, should you decide to refuse our message."

Myles nodded once and said, "All right then, speak your message."

Aurora nodded and Gabrielle stepped forward, after handing her sword to her wife, she removed the cylinder from her robes and opened it, removing the scroll it contained. Unrolling it she started to read.

" _By the order of his grace, Rhaegar Targaryen, first of his name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, this message shall serve as a Free pass and Royal Pardon for every member of the Golden Company who would wish to return to Westeros."_

A deathly silence fell in the pavilion until it was broken by Harry Strickland. "Are you saying that the King is willing to offer us a Royal Pardon?"

Gabrielle nodded and replied, "That is correct. But, it will have to be earned first."

"And how, pray tell, are we supposed to earn it?" Myles Toyne asked suspiciously.

With a grin, Aurora stepped forward and answered, "By making a choice. Have you heard of what happened at King's Landing during and after the sack?"

All men nodded and Aurora continued, "Then you know that the King has been joined by two Dragonriders from Valyria?" Again, the men nodded. "Here is your choice, accept the Kings terms and live and get the chance to earn your pardon, or refuse and die.

In two weeks, these Dragonriders will arrive at this city's gates, with the entire army camped at Bloodstone. Every sellsword and warrior who will stand against them shall burn in dragonfire. Everyone who joins them in taking the city shall be richly rewarded and given the opportunity to win their Pardon."

The reactions they got were a bit varied, Myles and Harry looked interested and intrigued, Black Balaq looked mildly interested but not overly so, and Horro looked skeptical and highly suspicious.

"We shall leave you to ponder it but a final word before we leave, should you accept, tell your men to each carry a black band around their chests, if they do so, the Westerosi forces will not attack them. And any effort made on your part to hasten the city's fall with fewer loss of life shall be rewarded."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle bowed their heads shortly and Gabrielle put the scroll back in its cylinder and replaced it within her robes. They turned around and left the pavilion were the Immortals surrounded them again and they left the encampment in the direction of the city.

They stayed in the city for three more days, scouting out the battlements at night and trading at the markets during the day. During their nightly scouting, they had left a nasty surprise which the defenders would discover once their attack began.

On their last day in the city, they did something they had avoided up until that point, they visited the slave markets. Upon reaching the large square they were immediately besieged by the cries of children and yelling of the slave traders, praising their wares. In the middle of the square was a large stone platform where the auctions took place.

Steeling their hearts, Aurora and Gabrielle led their guards across the market, stopping here and there to inspect some of the slaves, searching for people they could use or help. Against the back of the market almost at the end, they found something rather intriguing.

A large area against the back of the square was occupied by a series of large cages, all of the occupants of the cages appeared to be women, but what made it odd was that they all more or less looked like them. Each of the women was tall and muscular and most carried an assortment of scars that one could only get through a lifetime of war. Furthermore, they were all bare-chested and each of the women wore iron rings through their nipples and ruby studs in their cheeks.

When they approached the cages a large, fat, copper-skinned man with a bald head and wearing a richly decorated vest of supple leather stepped forward and said in bastard-Valyrian. "Careful lady, these slaves have yet to be broken, they do not make good servants."

Addressing the man Aurora asked curiously, "Where do they come from, I have never seen the likes of them before."

The man gave her a grin, showing half a dozen golden teeth, and replied, "I have bought them from a horde of Dothraki, who in turn stole them from a tribe of Jogos Nhai, I believe they are the last remains of an army of warrior maids that was sent from the fortress city of Kayakayanaya to fight the Zhorse-riders of the Jogos Nhai. They have come from very far away and have proven very stubborn in learning their proper place beneath their masters."

Aurora nodded slowly and said, "I am looking for pit-fighters, maybe this would prove a nice change of pace for the masters of Slaver's bay, at least they should give a good show, even if they don't obey. Can you get one of them out for me to inspect?"

The men gave her another grin, this one filled with greed and he shouted a few orders to half a dozen large summer islanders, who judging by their collars, where slaves themselves. The men opened one of the cages and using quarterstaffs, they beat several of the women into submission until they could grab one and they pulled her out of the cage, before locking it again behind them.

They clasped thick iron shackles on the woman's wrists and ankles and attached chains to them. Forcing the woman to walk, they made their way over to them and when they stood before them, the slaver kicked the women in the backs of her knees, causing her to fall and the male slaves pulled her to her knees.

Now that they could see her properly they saw that woman was a large word for her, she was tall and proud, but she couldn't be more than 18 or 20 name days old. Her hair was filthy and she was covered in grime, but they could see that she was not unpleasant to look at. Her hair might have been golden in color once but it was hard to tell now.

Dreading what she was about to do, Aurora grabbed the woman by her jaw and forced her to look her in the eyes. Being as gentle as possible, she pulled out the information she needed, her language, her culture and her customs.

When she had what she needed she let go of the woman's head and knelt before her, so she was on the same height. She now gently lifted her head and spoke to her in her own language. "What is your name?"

The woman looked up in surprise at hearing her own language and she responded softly, "Valaya."

"How did you come to be in slavery Valaya?"

"The Patriarchs sent us from Kayakayanaya to stop the Jogos Nhai from raiding our trade routes to Vaes Dothrak. They surprised us in the night, and killed most of us. We are all that are left, 379 out of an army of 10,000. The Jogos Nhai brought us south, intending to sell us to slavers from Qarth, but they were surprised by a Dothraki horde. The Dothraki killed the Jogos Nhai, raped all of us and sold us to that fat man over there."

Smiling gently at her Aurora said, "Do as I say, and tell your sisters to do the same, if you do, I will get you of here and give you your freedom back."

At those words Valaya looked wide-eyed and she fell on her hands and knees, kissing Aurora's feet. Aurora gently pulled her up and said, "No need for that, now stand up and don't fight back."

Valaya quickly did as she was told and stood up, keeping her head obediently lowered and crossed her hands before her stomach. Aurora turned to the slack-jawed slaver and said with a grin, "Sometimes the hard hand is not always the best way. I'll buy them from you, how much for all of them."

The man shook his head to recover from the shock and had the slaves bring Valaya back to the cages, before he weighed the options in his head. They obviously wanted to buy them so he could ask them a pretty price, but seeing as no one else wanted to buy them, they would undoubtedly use that to drive a hard bargain. Finally, he made a decision and said, "450 gold pieces each."

Aurora looked him in the eyes and said, "You're kidding right, you just told us yourself that they were unbroken and seeing as no one else is standing here, there won't be that many buyers. I'll give you 40,000 for all of them."

"100,000"

"45,000"

"80,000"

"47,000"

"60,000"

"50,000 my final offer." Aurora send a slight mental nudge with her eyes, and the man blinked two times before nodding,

"Fine, 50,000 for the lot of them, but you pay cash, up front."

Aurora nodded and pulled out a bag of gemstones. She grabbed a wooden bowl from a nearby table and poured the contents of the bag in the bowl. A mixture of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds fell into the bowl and Aurora said, "The diamonds are worth 500 gold pieces a-piece, and the others are 300, agreed?"

The man nodded and Aurora counted the gemstones before she handed them to him. He put them into a bag of his own and hung it on his belt while Aurora put the rest of the gems back in her own bag and replaced it on the belt beneath her robes.

In the meantime, Valaya had spread the word amongst the fellow warrior-maids and when the slaver ordered the six male slaves to open the cages, they stood up calmly and followed Valaya out without protest or any attempt to flee.

Aurora and Gabrielle grinned inwardly at seeing this as loyalty bought through kindness and good deeds, was so much stronger than that forced by pain, fear and submission. Now that they were all out of the cages they had the opportunity to see them more clearly. Most looked to have a similar hair color as Valaya, though black and brown were also common. At least two dozen of them were pregnant, no doubt the result of their rape by the Dothraki, though none appeared to be further along than 5 months.

Addressing the woman in their own language Aurora said, "Follow us back to our ships, don't make any sudden moves and keep your eyes lowered, don't provoke anyone."

They all bowed their heads in agreement and as they turned around, they followed them in a long line of four wide. During the trek back to the harbor Aurora said mentally, " _Shouldn't we get them something more to wear, if we arrive at Bloodstone with them dressed like this, it might not be such a smart thing to do."_

" _You're right love, how much do you have left?"_

" _About 50,000 in gemstones and we have another 40,000 back on the_ Chain Breaker _, should be enough to get all the non-pregnant ones dressed in steel."_

" _Well then, they aren't expecting us for another week, so we have the time to invest in their protection. If we play it right, we might have just gained our very own Royal Guard."_

" _I think you're right love, it would be fitting though, an all-female Royal Guard. We'll have to see how they react to the idea once we return to Bloodstone. For now, let's just focus on getting them armored up for the time being. We can make them something proper once we get to Valyria."_

They turned into another street and made their way towards the Steel Market. Once there they quickly found a very affluent merchant in armor that was able to sell them what they wanted. 350 full sets of heavy armor, leather under armor, covered by mail and half plate consisting of a cuirass, gorget, gauntlets, a skirt, greaves and upper arm and leg plates and simple barbute helmets with a Y-shaped visor.

The quality was excellent for the regular market, but when compared to the work of Westerosi armourerers, it didn't look like much and couldn't compare to the quality of the armor worn by knights. Also, unfortunately the chest plates were designed for male users, so it would be a little tight for their breasts but otherwise it served nicely.

Another merchant was able to sell them armaments, and after asking the warrior-maidens what their preferred weapons were they all answered that they were trained in the use of the bow, spear, knife and sling.

It took them a while of bartering but finally Aurora was able to purchase 300 bows and quivers filled with arrows, 320 spears and 400 daggers to be delivered once they were gathered. They made their way back to the harbor after buying tunics for all of the women to wear until better could be found or procured. The merchants had said that it would probably take them a few days to gatherer everything and have it brought to the harbor, so they would have to wait there until it arrived.

As it turned out, it was a rather tight fit, with nearly 700 people on 3 ships, but after making some accommodations, they all had a more-or-less comfortable sleeping place. It was lucky that all three of their ships fell in the larger category of dromonds, so most of the forlorn could sleep in the place of the rowers with the Unsullied sleeping on the deck and the rest choosing a spot wherever it was. All of them who were pregnant were given a place in the cabins, though they had to share them with three or four per cabin.

When the ordered armor and weapons were finally delivered after two days of waiting, they loaded them up and quickly left the harbor, having depleted the better part of their wealth, but gained some skilled allies in return.

Upon their return to Bloodstone they drew quite a crowd, being followed by the group of warrior-maidens, either dressed in armor or pregnant. However, upon arrival they were awaited by a full company of 250 Forlorn, who, in addition to the men they had brought formed an effective barrier to keep everyone away.

They moved immediately to the keep and upon a single order from Aurora, the entire fortress was emptied of everyone except the Forlorn and a few dozen female servants. Gabrielle led them towards one of the larger natural cavers beneath the fortress that had access to a hot spring being warmed by a subterranean magma flow. It had been turned into a large bathing area and Gabrielle ordered the servants to bring soap and all the towels they could find.

The next three hours the warrior-maidens were helped to clean themselves of months of filth and dirt, while Aurora and Gabrielle briefed their military council on what they had found and done in Tyrosh. Upon hearing of their 'present' for the defenders the others all grinned, as it would allow them to use their most powerful weapons during the assault.

In a matter of days, they would leave Bloodstone and head for war.

Author's note: So that's it, the board is set and the pieces are in position. Next chapter is the battle for Tyrosh, I'm curious to hear what you think is going to happen, so please send me your thoughts.


	26. Chapter 26

_There will be a lot of changes of perspective in this chapter, especially in the second_ _hal_ _f, these will be outlined by XXX. Also, this is a very, very long chapter with copious amounts of gore and other descriptions of bloodshed._

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 26

The first rays of dawn were still hours away from peeking over the horizon as Dagmer stood on the prow of the _Kraken's Vengeance_ , leaning against the centre beam of one of the two newly constructed catapults that occupied part of the deck of the large galley. As he was watching the large full moon that shone above them, he was thinking about the speech Aurora had given to all the captains and officers of their fleet and army the day before.

 _XXX_

 _Aurora and Gabrielle were standing on a rise before the gates of Bloodstone, and looked contently at the sea of faces that were all staring up at them. Over a thousand were standing there, all waiting for one of them to speak. "Tomorrow will be the day we have been working towards these last few months. Tonight, we set sail for Tyrosh, meaning we'll arrive at the city about an hour before sunrise._

 _You all know the plan, and you all know your place. If we all do what we agreed upon, victory will be ours." A loud roar and banging on_ _shield_ _s rose from the crowd, causing her to pause until it quieted down again._

" _Tell_ _your warriors to rest and to make sure their equipment is in order. Each of you has been given a list, I want you to take that list_ _passed_ _each and every member of your units, have them fill it in or help them to do so. On that list, they are to put their name, where they were born, and who their next of kin are and where to find them. Once those lists have been filled in, you will hand them to one of these men." She pointed to the members of their military council who were standing before the rise._

" _Neither during, nor after the battle will there be any individual plundering, when the city is taken, all the spoils will be put together and every man or woman will have their fair share. In case of their demise, their shares will be given to their next of kin, hence the list I want them to fill in._

 _The Forlorn", she pointed at the silent soldiers who stood on either side of the field in orderly ranks, "Will be spread out throughout the army once we have taken the wall and they will serve as our," she indicated Gabrielle and herself, "eyes and ears in the city. I hope I do not have to remind any of you of what happened when the Lannisters sacked King's Landing."_

 _A soft murmur went through the crowd and more than_ _one eye_ _turned scowling towards a large cluster of tents that had been placed a fair distance away from the others. It was the camp were all the 'volunteers' from the Westerlands were camped. Many of them had been given the choice between The Wall and Essos, and these had all chosen Essos._

 _They would be directly behind the vanguard when they assaulted Tyrosh, and their morale was understandably not as spirited as that of the rest of the army. Casualties amongst them were expected to be very high, as they would be directly behind the Forlorn and mostly lacking their heavy armor, they would be an easy target for the archers on the walls and towers._

 _Aurora waited until the noise had died down again before she continued. "That will not be happening here. We are not a horde of beasts that rape and plunder as they go, we represent the Crown and Westeros, and we shall behave accordingly. Inform your soldiers of the following rules, as no transgressions will be tolerated._

 _There will be no plundering; anyone who is found taking anything before the fighting is done, will be forfeiting his rightful share of the spoils after the battle is over._

 _There will be no cruelty or mistreatment of civilians, whether they are free men or slaves. Those that do not follow this rule will, depending on the severity of their transgression, lose their share of the spoils or lose a hand._

 _There will be no rape and no murder. Anyone that does so anyway will be hanged as a criminal._

 _Anyone who surrenders, whether they be sellswords or citizen soldiers, will be shown mercy, be disarmed, and taken into custody until the fighting is done._

 _Under no circumstance should anyone deliberately approach the dragons, if you see them land or head for a location where opposition is tough, stay away from that place, as should they attack, their fire will kill indiscriminately. Should you be within 100 yards of such a location, try to find shelter or if you can't, lay flat on the ground and make yourself as flat as possible, if you see them approach._

 _Should you need to relay information to either my wife or myself, dispatch a runner to any of these six men, they can contact us when needed."_

 _Having finished with what she wanted to tell them Aurora took a few swigs from a wineskin Gabrielle handed to her before she turned back to the gathered crowd. "Are there any questions, or other matters that need to be discussed?"_

 _One of the captains put his hand up and asked, "Who are those women that came back with you and where are they now?"_

" _They are a group of warrior-maidens formerly from the fortress city of Kayakayanaya, their army was ambushed by the Jogos Nhai and they are the only survivors. A Dothraki horde destroyed the Jogos Nhai and they sold them to the slaver we bought them from. They are now inside the fortress, recovering from their ordeal and what will happen with them, we will see after we have taken Tyrosh."_

XXX

Dagmer was taken from his musings as he felt a callused yet soft hand, caress his face. "What is bothering you my love?"

Dagmer looked up at Alys' words and replied, "Just thinking about what has happened the last few months. I can't help but think that there is something the Ladies aren't telling us. I wasn't present at King's Landing, but Greatjon has told me the stories of what they found outside the walls. Acres upon acres of burned corpses, and inside the city, thousands more lay dead.

When they crushed Quellon's rebellion, they took on the entire keep on their own. Two against _nearly five hundred_ , and they came out without a scratch. They aren't human Alys, I don't know what they are, but I know they aren't like you or I. And then their army, those Forlorn are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Never, on all of my travels have I met the likes of them. Their behavior reminds me of the Unsullied, but none of them are eunuchs, and why don't they ever show their faces?"

"Worry not about such things my love," Alys said softly as she leaned against his chest. "All that you have to ask yourself is this; are you bothered with it if they aren't human? They fight for us, so do not fret about it."

Dagmer kissed her on the side of her neck and said, "I love you Alys, I don't know what I have done to earn your love, but I thank the Drowned God everyday for it."

"You can show me in our cabin my love, let's get back to bed, we still have a few hours before we reach the city." She gently took his hand and pulled him back towards their bed.

XXX

A few hours later they stood back on the deck, but now they weren't alone. More than fifty Ironborn were milling around on the deck, either preparing the catapults, preparing grappling hooks, laying out weapons or readying their equipment. They were only miles away from the harbor of Tyrosh and all around them the rest of the first fleet was similarly occupied.

Dagmer had been given command of the first wave and his orders were simple. Strike fast and strike hard, force their fleet to pursue and stay out of range of the artillery on the walls. Draw their fleet out of the harbor so they can be surrounded and neutralized.

The ships he had been given command of were all galleys and they had lowered the masts and stored the sails away, trusting on rowing alone to propel them. This also had the added benefit of allowing the catapults on the aft decks to fire simultaneously with those on the fore decks, without running the risk of hitting their own sails.

Ten minutes later they could see the immense black walls rising in the distance and Dagmer gave the order. "CATAPULTS PREPARE TO FIRE." The order was followed by two heavy beats on a massive drum standing on the place of where the mast would normally be.

On each of the 150 ships, the catapults were loaded with small wooden barrels with a fuse on one end. The barrels had been an idea of Aurora, who called them, 'cluster bombs'. Every barrel was filled with 15 clay pots, further stuffed with a weak explosive mixture. Each of the clay pots was filled with a volatile mixture of oil, whiskey and pieces of cloth tied around pebbles.

The fuses would burn for precisely 30 seconds, after which the barrels were launched and would explode in the air, spreading the clay pots around. Each of the clay pots would then reach a target of its own and explode upon contact.

As soon as Dagmer saw the first enemy ships come into sight he shouted, "LIGHT TORCHES." All around the fleet, torches were lit and men prepared to light the fuses. Using the instrument Gabrielle had given him, Dagmer calculated the distance to the enemy ships and as soon as they came into reach, he gave the long-anticipated order.

"LIGHT AND FIRE." This time a trio of drumbeats echoed over the water and nearly 300 barrels were launched into the air and headed to the enemy fleet with an ominous sound in the early dawn. Dagmer watched the cloud of coming destruction descent and roughly 60 feet above the water, the barrels exploded. Hundreds upon hundreds of small clay pots were launched and found their targets. More than half of them landed in water and exploded harmlessly, but the others landed on the ships.

Despite his many years of experience with raiding and naval warfare, Dagmer felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he watched dozens upon dozens of ships catch fire as the thousands of burning pebbles caught the sails or the rigging and ignited them. The cries and screams of wounded and burning men echoed over the water towards them.

Following his orders, Dagmer yelled, "FIRE WHEN READY." This time they were loaded with boulders coated with pitch which were ignited before launch. They had only enough of the barrels for a single volley, as their production was a very time consuming process. 500 men had been working for a week to create just 350 of the barrels, as every part had to be made by hand, the barrels, the pots, the pebbles had to be found, wrapped and stuffed into the pots.

The second volley was far less effective than the first, but still a few dozen scored hits, further damaging the enemy vessels. They could fire three more volleys before the enemy ships had restored order and begun to fire back with their own artillery, though with far less of an effect due to the smoke clouds from the burning ships obstructing their view.

What followed was an hour of volleys going back and forth destroying ships on both sides until Dagmer was thrown from his place on the aft castle, by the crash of a boulder slamming its way into the deck mere feet from where he stood.

"That was just a bit too close," he muttered, before turning to Alys who had come running as she felt the boulder hit and saw her husband laying on the deck. "Sound the retreat; this should be enough to convince them to pursue us."

Alys nodded curtly and grabbed a horn from her belt. She gave a series of blasts and the entire fleet started to row in reverse, retreating from the battle under cover of their artillery. It had the desired effect, a few minutes later the first ships broke through the cloud of smoke and started their pursuit. One after the other the enemy ships broke through the smoke and soon the chase was on.

Several of Dagmer's ships had suffered damage and a few were taking on water, causing them to lag behind a bit. Dagmer ordered lines to be put between those ships and others, determined not to lose anymore than he already had, and pull them along with them.

He estimated that they had destroyed at least a hundred and a half ships and lost maybe a dozen themselves, but the sea ahead of them was covered by ships. It looked like there were at least eight- or nine hundred left, though most showed varying degrees of damage, mostly caused by the cluster bombs.

The chase lasted for maybe half an hour, as they had to be far enough away from the harbor to deny them a chance of retreating when the trap was sprung.

In the distance a roar-like horn blast was sounded and all around them, the ships came to a halt. On the horizons to the left and right of them, mass banks of ships appeared, closing the enemy fleet in between them.

As soon as the enemy saw the incoming ships, they tried to retreat but the way back was cut off. Two massive dragons had descended from the sky and hung between them and the relative safety of the harbor of Tyrosh.

Dagmer ordered the _Kraken's Vengeance_ to be rowed forward under a white flag and from between the mass of enemy ships, their flagship emerged. A gigantic three decked galleass with a hundred oars on each side and the bleeding tower of Tyrosh depicted on its sails.

The two ships came alongside each other and to his satisfaction Dagmer could see that the ship had not come out of their attack unscathed. One of its sails was missing and the side of the ship showed several holes where it had been struck by boulders.

A gangplank was put between the two ships and Dagmer and a boarding party of a dozen Ironborn traversed it onto the enemy flagship.

Once onboard, Dagmer was met by a man wearing a highly-decorated velvet robe of a deep azure color. He had bright blue hair and his short-trimmed beard was dyed a fiery orange.

Using his somewhat reasonable understanding of bastard Valyrian, Dagmer said, "You sailed right into our trap and you are surrounded, surrender now and your lives will be spared. Continue to fight, and you shall all burn. You have half an hour to comply before the dragons attack." Turning around, he left the ship again and went back onboard the _Kraken's Vengeance_. The gangplank was removed and both ships returned to their previous positions.

Dagmer was not really surprised when fifteen minutes later, boulders and burning clay pots filled with pitch came flying towards them from the enemy fleet. He calmly gave the order to put out what fires had sprung up and went to lean on the railing to watch the show.

XXX

As soon as they saw the first boulder being launched, Aurora and Gabrielle dove towards the enemy fleet. Using blasts of fire, and sweeps of their massive spike-riddled tails, they destroyed every ship that was firing while leaving the others unharmed. It took 278 ships before they stopped firing all together and white flags were hoisted on what remained of the badly damaged fleet.

From all directions flotillas came rowing in and boarded each of the enemy ships. The crews were disarmed, and all the rowing slaves released. They escorted the ships towards the nearest island where they were all beached and the crews were put in pre-built prison camps while the released slaves were brought to another part of the island where they received food and water and medical care if they needed it.

They left a garrison of 5,000 men, most of which were armed sailors and not actual soldiers, and turned the fleet back in the direction of Tyrosh, the first battle had been won, but a far larger one still remained to be fought, and it would cost them a whole lot more than the two dozen ships and 400 lives they had lost so far.

Around noon they once again approached the harbor of Tyrosh and by that time the ships they had destroyed had nearly all sunk to the bottom or burned away entirely, leaving the way clear for their invasion force to make landfall.

They used the natural surroundings of the island to their advantage and unloaded their army and their equipment far out of the reach of the artillery on the towers.

XXX

They took the rest of the afternoon to unload everything and make camp, before they marshaled their entire army and marched it to just out of range from the enemy artillery. Carrying a white flag, Aurora and Gabrielle walked further, accompanied only by the Immortals.

A single catapult launched a burning clay pot at them but with a wave of her hand, Aurora stopped it in mid-air and sent it straight back to where it came from, taking out the catapult, the crew that manned it and everyone else that stood on that particular tower.

The defenders on the walls, who had been jeering and spewing insults up to this point, suddenly fell still at this obvious display of magic. The army behind them had likewise fallen silent; none of them had known that they were able to do this, except for Syrio and Orus, who hadn't been able to tell anyone because of their oath.

"SEND YOUR ENVOYS, WE WANT TO TALK!" Aurora's roared words echoed against the walls and after about ten minutes, the massive city gates opened a bit and a large delegation left the city.

In the front was a triple line of soldiers, each line 30 strong, and they were followed by half a dozen city officials and 23 men who were armed and armored like sellswords, amongst their number were Myles Toyne and Harry Strickland.

As soon as they were close enough, both Aurora and Gabrielle could see several of the sellswords looking curiously at them, and then look quickly at Myles and Harry before turning back to them as one of the city officials began to speak.

"What business do you have at our walls, I demand that you leave here this instant. And what have you done to our fleets?"

The only reply they received from Aurora was a soft growl, only made more menacing by the metallic echo of her helmet. Gabrielle did reply with words however, but what she said caused the officials to back away in disgust and even a hint of fear.

"We did not come here to answer for our actions, we are here to give you a choice. Surrender your city unconditionally, free every man, woman and child suffering under the bonds of slavery and abolish the slave trade. If you agree, we'll only plunder the city and let you live. If you refuse, we will assault your walls, destroy your army, and kill every free man capable of bearing arms in the entire city, starting with the nobility."

She next turned to the sellsword captains and added, "I urge you all to consider what you will do when we attack, if you surrender to us, your lives and those of your men will be spared and you shall be free to go, after the city is stable. If you fight us, you will all die to the last man. However, if you choose to join us and help in conquering the city, you shall be rewarded."

Now Aurora took over and speaking to everyone she said, "You have till noon tomorrow to surrender, half an hour after noon, we attack."

They continued to stand there with their arms crossed until the officials and soldiers turned around, seething with rage and marched back to the city. The sellswords hesitated for a moment, obviously no longer certain that they were on the winning side in this conflict before they to, one by one, turned around and returned to the city.

The last to leave were Myles and Harry, with the later looking intently at Aurora and Gabrielle motioning with his eyes towards his hands, from where he threw a small tied scroll towards them. When it landed before the feet of Gabrielle, he turned around as last and joined Myles as they walked back to the city.

Gabrielle knelt and picked up the scroll, holding it in her hand while they too turned around before returning to their own army.

XXX

Upon reaching their own lines, Aurora ordered to the officers, "Fall back to camp. Rest for tonight and post a strong guard, they have till noon to surrender, if they don't, we attack half an hour later."

The officers all saluted and returned to their respective units, repeating her commands when they did. Aurora and Gabrielle marched straight back to their own tent, whereupon reaching it, they removed their helmets and sat down while Gabrielle opened the scroll Harry Strickland had given them.

' _To the Dragonriders,_

 _We accept your proposal but want to talk before the battle. Be at the eastern gate at midnight. I'll meet you there._

 _Harry Strickland, second-in-command of the Golden Company.'_

"Well that's good," Aurora remarked, "or it could be a trap."

"Nah I don't think so," Gabrielle mused. "Neither he nor Myles struck me as the kind of person to mislead us like that. Certainly, they might try something, but it will be to test us, not to sell us out. If they wanted to do that, they would have done so when we were in the city."

"True, but they didn't know who we were then, so it might have appeared useless to them back then. But I agree, we go and see what they want. However, we won't be going alone, if they want us to meet them at one of the gates, then that means they are going to have to open it. If we can smuggle some of our men into the city they might be able to take the gates for us and open them when we storm the city."

"Good Idea, we'll take two companies of Forlorn and have them hide just out of sight of the gate. If needs be, the two of us can hold the gates open long enough for them to reach us."

They spent the rest of the afternoon resting before they had dinner with the military council and discussed their plan of attack. After they informed them of the note they had received Aurora added, "How we shall proceed, will depend on what they say.

Personally, I am pretty sure they won't surrender, as we gave them terms the Archon could not agree to, so I say we attack at first light if the Golden Company is with us. If they are not, we strike an hour before dawn and try to gain one of the gates to allow our army in. For now I say, take your rest and tell your men to turn in early, they have to wake up well before dawn. We'll send for each of you once we have spoken with Myles Toyne and Harry Strickland, and see how we go on from there."

The others all agreed and after dinner they each went to their own tent after informing their sub-commanders about the preliminary plans that had been made.

XXX

That night, at half an hour before midnight, a host consisting of all twelve Immortals and five-hundred Forlorn followed Aurora and Gabrielle as they left the camp and made a large detour to approach the Eastern gate from the direct east, instead of the south, so they would stay out of sight of the walls. Upon the walls, they could see many men patrolling with torches and large braziers were lit at frequent intervals to be used by archers should it be necessary.

They took nearly twenty-five minutes to get to the gates and once they did, the Forlorn hid in the tree line that begun a thousand feet from the walls. Aurora and Gabrielle carefully continued onwards to the gates, followed by the Immortals who were just as quiet as they themselves were.

Once they had made it to the gates, they only had to wait a few minutes before a side door opened which had been hidden in the solid stone walls next to the gate. Out of the door stepped Harry Strickland who silently motioned for them to enter, which they promptly did. They were followed by half the Immortals, while the other half stayed in the shadows under the gates, out of sight of the patrolling guards on the walls.

Harry led them through the wall and then into the shadows behind it towards one of the houses that was located near the gates. Harry knocked a short series of different knocks and the door was opened from within. Harry led them inside and towards a large room that was located up a flight of stairs.

Inside the room stood a large table with eight men already seated and three empty chairs. One of the men they immediately recognized as Myles Toyne and the others had also been amongst the sellswords they had seen that afternoon. Once they were inside the room, the Immortals took up positions on either side of the door while Aurora, Gabrielle and Harry Strickland took the remaining chairs.

When they were all seated, Gabrielle was the first to speak; neither she nor Aurora had removed their helmets so her voice had the same metallic echo the men had already heard earlier. "So, tell me gentlemen, why did you ask us to come here?"

Myles was the one to answer and he said, "Well, first of all I would like to introduce myself and our companions. My name is Myles Toyne, the Captain-general of the Golden Company, and the one who brought you here is Harry Strickland, my second-in-command. The others are all captains of other sellsword companies that would like to discuss their 'terms of surrender' with you."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded their heads and Aurora said, "So I take it that all of you have decided to take us up on our offer of surrender?"

Myles nodded and replied, "Yes, my Lord. Once we received word from your messengers, we have covertly approached our fellow captains and carefully informed ourselves of their position. These men are the ones that were open to negotiating their position, and your speech this afternoon has only reinforced that."

"So, who and how many do these men represent, and what are your terms?" Aurora's question was answered by a round of introductions and it appeared that two men had come each from; the Second Sons, the Windblown and the Company of the cat, the Stormcrows had send one representative. Together they represented 6,000 men, and in addition to the Golden Company, that would mean that they had a full three-fourths of the sellswords hanging in the balance around this table.

Once the introductions were done Myles Toyne took the lead again. "Our terms are fairly simple. All of us here are willing to join your side and help you in taking this city. In return we ask this, each company will receive the full pay we were promised by the Triarchy, and that of the others who were not willing to talk will be divided equally amongst us. Furthermore, we want 10% of the spoils after our pay has been withdrawn from the total. The golden company will accept your proposal of earning the Royal Pardon from King Rhaegar, and the others will go their own way after our business here is complete."

Aurora and Gabrielle were silent for a few minutes while they thought about what Myles had said. Their terms were not unreasonable, they were actually quite fair, there was however one problem. They did not want the sellswords to go their own way after the battle, as it would undoubtedly lead to them crossing paths again. Finally, Aurora was the one to reply.

"We agree to give you your full pay and the 10% of the spoils; however, we are not comfortable with the companies going their own way after the battle. We have quite a lengthy campaign ahead of us and we are in need of experienced soldiers. So, we can make you a counter offer. We will give you your full pay, and 15% of the spoils, if you enlist your men in our army and disband your companies."

There was a murmur of protest around the table at the mention of them disbanding their companies so to prevent them from walking out, Gabrielle explained their offer. "Each of your men will be given fair wages and a steady job for at least the next 15 to 20 years. Each of them will receive proper armor and weapons _from us_ before they are sent off to fight, in addition to lodgings, food and other necessities for their families, if they have them. In return we demand an oath of fealty or that they sign a contract. We will re-train them in our way of waging war, which, I can guarantee you, is a whole lot more efficient than what you are used to."

This shut up their protests for the moment, as the promise of steady work for the next 20 years was very tempting. One of them, a man who had introduced himself as, 'The Tattered Prince', spoke up. "We will have to discuss this with our men after the battle is done. I suggest we leave that part until afterwards."

The other six men all agreed and Myles Toyne took the word again. "So, what are we going to do now? I think you already know that your terms are going to be rejected by the Archon, so when are you going to attack?"

Both Aurora and Gabrielle chuckled softly before Aurora replied, "Indeed, we know they will be rejected, which is why we will attack at dawn."

There were no surprised exclamations at those words, as they had already expected something like that. "I would suggest that you all order your men to stay clear from the walls and the towers, starting half an hour before dawn. There will be some rather nasty surprises there, and we don't want them to be caught in the crossfire."

The captains all nodded and Gabrielle spoke next. "To identify your men, have them all wear a strip of black or other dark fabric around their chests, so our men know that they are on our side. And one last thing," she removed several scrolls of paper from her poach, "These scrolls contain a list of rules that _will be obeyed_ during the battle. Any transgressions will not be tolerated and the indicated punishments will be administered without exceptions."

While the men read through the scrolls, she and Aurora sat quietly and paid close attention to their faces. They didn't seem to be to upset by the limitations, but Harry Strickland did ask, "I don't really understand. You threatened to kill every free man in the city, but here you tell us not to harm any of them, what's up with that?"

"We wanted to frighten them," was Aurora's reply. "And besides," she added with a growl, "after it is over, we'll sort out every single one who was even remotely involved with the slave trade and they will not escape their fate…"

The tone on which she said that, in addition to the metallic echo, caused a shiver to run over the backs of the men around the table.

After the last had finished reading the scroll, they were placed back on the table and Gabrielle said, "If you all agree with this, I want you to sign them and then inform your men about it."

Each of the men did as she asked and when it was done with, they both stood up and Gabrielle said, "That was all for tonight gentlemen, the next time we meet shall be in the heat of battle. Let your men sleep for now and inform them of what happened here when they wake up. Our first units will charge the walls just before dawn, and remember, keep your men away from the walls; dragonfire makes no distinction between friend and foe."

The men all nodded and Aurora and Gabrielle followed Harry Strickland back to the gates. On the way Aurora asked, "Harry, do you think there is a way for you to hide 500 of our men in the city until an hour before dawn? Preferably somewhere around the Southern walls."

Harry thought about it until he said hesitantly, "Should be doable, but it will be difficult. We could spread them out around the city and only have them move to the walls just before you attack, that way we can hide them all."

"You do that, they are waiting for us just beyond the tree line, they already have their instructions, so all you have to do is show them where to stay. If you follow me I'll introduce you and you can bring them in any way you want." Harry nodded and quietly followed them out of the city. To prevent himself from being spotted, he had put a dark cloak around his gilded armor and his helmet he had left behind at his quarters.

Upon reaching the tree line, Harry immediately came face-to-face with half a dozen swords aimed straight at his face. Aurora snapped her fingers, followed by moving her hand stretched out from left to right, and immediately the swords were put away again.

Turning to the ten nearest men, each of whom was an officer in charge of 50 Forlorn and distinguishable by a simple black dragon painted on their chest plates, she said softly, "You all have your orders; this man will show you where to hide until the time comes to strike. Until the battle begins, you follow his orders within the set parameters." All ten men saluted her and spread out to repeat her orders to each of their 5 sub commanders.

As they turned back to Harry, Gabrielle said, "Until the battle begins, they will answer to you, _and only to you_ , make sure not to abuse that command, as they will kill you if you do."

Harry swallowed, looking upon the full-face helmets, having no doubt that they would carry out that threat, and nodded. "I understand. And I'll ensure they are given maps of the city, so they can study the outlay and pick their way towards the gates."

"Good, then we shall leave them in your hands." Offering him her hand Aurora added, "Good luck, Harry, and we'll see you during the battle."

"Good luck to you as well my Lords, and I look forward to seeing you in action."

Both grinned softly beneath their helmets, thinking about the look on his face when they would reveal who they were, before nodding to him and sneaking off into the dark of night.

Harry turned around only to come once again face-to-face to the ten officers who had reappeared silently. "Seven Hells," He exclaimed, only barely able to keep his voice down. "You scared me half to death. Just clear your throat or so next time."

As one the men saluted and said hushed, "Ser, yes Ser."

Deciding to just 'shake it off', Harry shook his head and said, "Please divide your men in groups of ten and send them towards the gate, five after each other and with 5 minutes in between. Start sending them in when you see a lantern being placed underneath the gatehouse."

The officers nodded silently and went off again to execute his orders, while Harry returned to the city to quickly wake a few of his own men who could help him to bring those soldiers to their temporary hiding holes.

On the other side of the city Aurora and Gabrielle had, upon reaching the camp, immediately gathered their Military Council. Once all five men were gathered, Aurora immediately fired away.

"We have some good news, as it now stands, we have 16,000 of the sellswords on our side. The Golden Company, the Second Sons, the Windblown, the Stormcrows and the Company of the Cat have all chosen to join us, so here is how this is going to be done…"

XXX

The first preludes to combat begun just after one hour before dawn. All across the southern wall, from the western to the eastern gates, small groups of heavily armored soldiers started to creep up as silently as possible to the entrances of each of the 44 towers that dotted the walls.

The Southern gate in turn was carefully encircled from within by sixty of the same soldiers. Keeping to the shadows, they used their dark cloaks to evade notice by the guards that were patrolling the city streets in increasing numbers as they came closer to the walls.

For nearly ten minutes, the soldiers waited in their chosen locations until they heard what they were waiting for. At exactly half an hour before dawn, a mighty, terrifying roar echoed all across the island and the still dark sky was lit up by massive blasts of sapphire and ruby fire.

Each of the groups sprung into action as soon as they heard the roar. Storming to their target, they cut a vicious path through a few dozen lightly armored guard patrols that blocked their way. Not even blinking about the losses they took themselves, they stormed into the towers and the gate house and fought their way up, as all around and behind them, the city was called to arms and the soldiers were rushing to the wall.

On three of the towers the soldiers were stopped and killed before they could reach their objectives but everywhere else they succeeded in reaching them, the ammunition storage rooms that were located directly beneath each of the artillery pieces. Following their orders to the letter and with unflinching determination, they found the X-marked barrels. As their remaining comrades in arms stopped any reinforcements from interrupting them, one of each group opened a thick sailcloth bag and removed a small storm lantern from within.

They all used the butt of a dagger to break open the lanterns and upon a second roar coming from above the city, they used the burning candles from the lanterns to light the extremely short fuses on each of the barrels.

XXX

Oberyn, Dagmer, the Greatjon, Orus, Syrio and 'Bronze' Yohn Royce, each stood at the head of their respective parts of the army. It had been separated in 6 divisions of 10,000 men each, with the one directly in front of the gates consisting of the remaining 6,500 Forlorn, the Unsullied, the convicted 'volunteers' and the four steel clad giants under the command of the Greatjon.

They were all waiting for the surprise Aurora and Gabrielle had promised them but so far, nothing was happening. Suddenly a mighty roar broke through the dark and the night sky was lit by massive bursts of fire.

Not even a minute later, the alarm bells were rung in the city as it was called to arms. Not seeing the use of announcing their assault, some of the newer arrivals that had come with Yohn Royce started to murmur and were out loud questioning the wisdom of having two women lead their army as such rookie mistakes had to be avoided in war.

Their complaints however were silenced as, about five minutes after the first, a second roar echoed through the night, this one followed by a most devastating effect. All along the southern wall, massive explosions suddenly lit up the night sky as the Forlorn lit the fuses on the remainder of the cluster bombs the Ladies had hidden in the arsenals in the towers. The artillery towers exploded violently as the cluster bombs ignited the stored ammunition for the catapults, destroying the artillery pieces and tearing apart everyone standing inside and on top of the towers and walls in between them.

The gatehouse was similarly struck as the massive wooden gates were blown out of their frames, pieces of burning wood crashing into the first few ranks of Westerlands 'volunteers', mowing down dozens upon impact and leaving them dead or dying, as the first casualties on the soon-to-be blood drenched fields outside the city.

Behind their lines, the trebuchets, catapults and ballistae they had brought opened fire, sending their burning projectiles arching over their heads, scaling the walls and crashing down into the area's just beyond the wall, which according to their scouting and the sellswords' information, was used for housing troops, while the previous inhabitants had been evicted and were sent nearer the heart of the city. Judging by the illumination behind the walls, the projectiles hit true and fires were spreading as their artillery kept firing volley after volley as a third roar echoed through the night.

This was their signal and with a massive roar, the 60,000-strong army started their assault on the looming Black Walls before them. The first to charge was the division right in front of the gates. Raising their shields above their heads to protect them from the projectiles that would soon be raining down upon them, they rushed towards the ruined wooden gates.

To their dismay they found that, while the gates had been utterly destroyed, the massive steel portcullis was lowered and had withstood the blast that broke the doors. Having foreseen this possibility, it was the reason Aurora had wanted to armor the giants.

The four colossal beings now carried a pair of tree trunks between them, each a foot-and-a-half wide and nine feet tall. Upon their approach, the giants were beset with everything the recovering defenders could throw at them. Stones, arrows, javelins, and pretty much just everything else they could throw out was sent towards them but the inch-thick steel withstood it all, allowing the giants to do their job.

Upon reaching the portcullis, the trunks were dropped while the giants grasped the portcullis and started too slowly but surely, raise the five tons of steel.

The defenders on the other side tried to rush in and obstruct their work but they were delayed by a single file line of badly battered down Forlorn whose wall of tower shields was slowly being pushed back, underneath the walls and towards the gates. The Westerlanders on the front line, who stood directly behind the giants to rush under the portcullis, watched on in silent, growing respect as the thirty or so Forlorn refused to break their shield wall as their comrades died left and right around them.

Each time one of the Forlorn fell, the line shifted a little, closing up the gap in an attempt to win as much time as possible before the defenders could reach the gates, which would only be a matter of minutes.

Minutes they might be, but for the attackers, every second counted as each second was a fraction of an inch of more space between the ground and the slowly raising portcullis. When it was a foot high, the first men crawled beneath it to reinforce the men in the shield wall, but they came too late. The last ones were overwhelmed as the gaps between them became too large to cover and the defenders were able to surround them and cut them down.

As the last ones fell, the defenders rushed forward and quickly started to hack into the half-dozen men that had managed to crawl underneath the portcullis killing them as well. They then turned to the giants, using spears to attack them, but just as with the projectiles, their armor was strong enough to withstand it as the attackers used their own spears to push the defenders away, resulting in an ever-shifting tide of pushing spears, stabbing swords, and dying men.

This stalemate lasted nearly five minutes, killing dozens on both sides of the portcullis and hundreds outside of the walls as the defenders had rallied by now and were throwing everything they had at them.

XXX

Aurora and Gabrielle meanwhile were not idle though. They each had nearly a mile of wall to keep clear of enemies as the rest of their army was preparing for the assault on the walls. Using their fire and spiked tails, they rewarded any hint of resistance from the defenders with a quick and a very violent ending. The gruesome truth of this was made evident in the light of the now early dawn. The visible remains of men that were impaled on the tails and flung either into the city or out to the army beneath the walls.

XXX

As Oberyn was directing his men towards the walls he quietly inspected the equipment they had brought. His men were carrying massive ladders, each just long enough to reach the top of the hundred feet tall walls. Not relying on simple muscle to raise the ladders and keep them in place, they used another of the siege engines the ladies had told them to create.

Small carts, each pushed by four men were rushed to 120 feet from the walls where they were anchored by hammering four large metal pins into the ground, one on each corner. Upon the carts were smaller versions of the large ballistae behind them that were still firing their projectiles into the city.

The smaller ballistae would fire large grappling hooks with chains attached to them up and over the walls. The idea was that the grappling hooks would take hold on the black parapets and the strain on them would make it unable to pry them loose, while the chains made it impossible to cut them off.

The chains would then be attached to the ladders, which would be carried to the edge of the walls, and then they would be used to pull the ladders up against the walls and keep them in place while the men climbed them to reach the tops of the walls, " _That is, if there will be something left to climb towards_." Oberyn softly muttered to himself as he saw a body fall from the sky and land not ten yards away from him.

Deciding to inspect the body a bit closer, he soon regretted his decision. Even with his past experiences, he had to swallow a gag reflex as he saw the heavily mutilated corpse. Despite the thick leather armor the man had worn, the chest cavity was basically just gone. It had clearly been one of the bodies stuck on Gabrielle's massive tail-spikes, as a massive gaping hole stretched out between the man's left shoulder, his spine and his now disemboweled belly. The ground around the body was covered with what had previously been inside his body as he knelt to close the eyes of the man, or boy as more than 18 name days he could not have been, the ground made splotching sound under his knee.

XXX

The Greatjon had been taking cover under two large tower shields, which were held up by two of his own house guards, as he had rushed his way towards the gates. He had arrived just in time to see the giants grab a hold of the gates. Along with the rest of his own men, he looked on in awe at the two struggles before them. The giants with the portcullis, and the Forlorn holding the entrance to the gate-tunnel against the defenders.

He cursed loudly as he saw the shield wall finally collapse. Not out of anger that the Forlorn had failed, no, just like many of the others who had seen it, he had just gained a lot of respect for those unknown men who had stood their ground till the very end and only went down after taking out a multitude of their enemies.

No, he cursed because it meant that the defenders were now once again in control of the other side, forcing him to send his men in to try and keep the giants clear of attacks and to allow them to do their jobs.

Snarling once, as he knew this was going to cost them later on, he pulled the small black horn from his belt and gave a single short blast. The reply was instant. On the south-western wall, Aurora made a single pass, bathing the battlements in ruby fire, before diving behind the wall and bathing the mass of soldiers before the gates in the same flames.

Quickly unfolding her wings, she rose up again to see that her fire had done what the defenders had failed to do. The heat of her flames had melted some of the grappling hooks and two of the ladders that were used by them came crashing back to the earth, each burying more than a dozen men beneath them.

Cursing inwardly, she quickly doused the flames to prevent more accidents while she looked towards the gates.

XXX

As he lowered the horn, Jon already heard the fire rushing the walls high above them and soon after a massive blast came down behind the walls, instantly killing all of the defenders that came within its reach.

This locked the few that were still alive into the tunnel between the fire and the portcullis that was still creeping higher, and was now nearly two feet from the ground. Looking around him, Jon saw nearly a dozen of his own guards nearby and he said, "GUARDS, WITH ME."

The eleven men immediately followed their liege lord and on a signal from him, the rest of the men pushed their spears through the holes in the portcullis, forcing the men on the other side to withdraw out of their reach. At the same moment, Jon dropped to the ground and quickly rolled under the massive steel object, followed quickly by his men.

While still on the ground, Jon swung his sword at the ankles of the nearest men, cutting down three with the greatsword while the rest jumped backwards as he got to his feet. Now with his men besides him, Jon charged at the few scared defenders, cutting them down to the last man.

Now, with the fire blocking anymore defenders from entering the tunnel, the giants were finally able to finish their work and as they raised the portcullis all the way up, teams of men picked up the logs and placed them upright beneath the steel fall gate before it was softly lowered on the logs.

As soon as it was done, Jon pulled the black horn back from his belt and gave three long bursts, the signal that the gates had been secured.

Immediately the two divisions on their right and the one on their left dropped all of their siege engines and formed up in shield covered formations, preparing to storm into the city as soon as the first division was passed the gates.

In the meantime, Jon could not completely suppress his curiosity so, accompanied by two of his men, he braved the heat to inspect the body of the nearest Forlorn he could find. What he saw shocked him.

The body was a mess, the steel plate was riddled with holes, most were smaller from shallow injuries, and one bigger, the one that had pierced his heart and finally killed him, but the man must have suffered dozens of injuries before it happened. " _The amount of pain he must have been in is unbelievable."_ He thought to himself.

When he knelt down to remove the man's helmet, he was suddenly aware of a spear poking him in the back of his neck. "I would ask you not to do that my Lord. Respect the dead and let them have their privacy."

The voice that had spoken to him spoke in an even and emotionless tone, the one he remembered being used by every member of the Forlorn. He quickly raised his hands in the air and the spear tip was removed. Standing up slowly, he turned around to come face to face with a line of forlorn, each of which held a weapon to his men.

The one who had spoken to him before spoke again and said, "Our identity is for only us to know, please respect that." Jon nodded and the Forlorn all removed their weapons before marching on, straight towards the fire.

Just before they reached it, the flames died out and the men in the tunnel where able to look into the city. The square before the gate was a blackened field of ashes and beyond they saw the defenders, who now came screaming towards them.

As one, the Forlorn marched on until they reached the square where they fanned out in four groups. Three of them blocked each of the three streets leading onto the square, while the fourth moved into the gatehouse to clear it of any remaining enemies.

Sounds of clashing steel and dying men were soon heard again from within the gates house and the streets as the Forlorn clashed with the enemy. Unlike before, the forlorn where now able to hold their lines as they had a greater number to keep them intact. Three rows deep the forlorn stood, and if one on the first line fell, his place was immediately taken over by the one behind him and so on.

Suddenly a great noise could be heard coming from the right and over the heads of the fighting, Jon could see a company of heavy horses riding into the street and halting upon seeing the battle before them. He could just see the leader draw his sword and upon unsheathing it, the men behind him yelling, "BENEATH THE GOLD, THE BITTER STEEL."

Immediately the company kicked their horses on and they charged down the street, straight into the back of the unsuspecting enemy.

XXX

Harry Strickland was leading 150 knights of the Golden Company towards the gates and as they turned into the street leading to their target, they saw that the gates had already fallen. There was fighting in the streets as their former employers tried to regain control of the gates and without hesitating he drew his sword.

Each of the men behind him lowered their lances and they cried their battle cry, "BENEATH THE GOLD, THE BITTER STEEL." Before he kicked his horse and drove it on. He himself and each of his men had tied a black piece of linen around their chests, as the Dragonriders had told them to do.

Gaining momentum in the wide street, the line of knights charged at the back of the defending army, who did not realize the attack was coming until it was too late. The heavy lances smashed into the enemy, some even skewering two or three of the enemy as the leather armor they wore offered little protection to such a charge.

Releasing the hold on their lances, each of the knights drew their swords and started hacking the enemy left and right as their Coursers plowed over the enemies before them. Within minutes the street had been cleared and they halted just before the line of soldiers that had stood against the fallen. Harry immediately recognized the armor and the dragonheads upon them and he lowered his head in greeting.

"Where are your leaders?" he questioned and without a word, the soldiers stepped aside one step to open a path and a large man, probably a Northerner, stepped towards them. The man carried a bloodied greatsword over his right shoulder and stopped before his horse.

"Who are you then?" the man questioned.

"My name is Harry Strickland, sub-commander of the Golden Company, we're on the same side."

"That's good to know," the man replied. "I'm Jon Umber, commander of the first division. Where are the rest of your men?"

"All around the city," Harry replied. "We're trying to keep the pressure of off the walls, to allow you to take them more easily and…" He was interrupted by a heavily armored figure falling from the sky and landing with a crash next to his horse, spooking the animal and several others.

When he had regained control of his mount, Harry looked towards the body that had fallen and saw to his surprise that it was one of the Dragonriders. "My Lord," he said respectfully while bowing on his horse."

To his utter shock, Jon grinned and said, "You okay _My Lady_?"

XXX

Aurora had seen the charge of Harry Strickland and his men and since the walls had been taken and their men were on, or over them on all sides, it was safe for her and Gabrielle to join the fighting in the city proper. " _I'll join the Greatjon and Harry Strickland in taking the Archon's Palace. Will you help Dagmer and his men clear the last of the enemies off the southeastern wall."_

" _I will love, be careful okay?"_

" _Of course, Gabby you know me right_ _?"_

" _That's why I'm saying it smart-ass."_

" _You know you love my ass."_

" _Yes, I do, but get going all ready."_

Aurora chuckled softly to herself before diving down towards the gates. She utilized the thick smoke clouds hanging over the city to change in mid-air above one of the buildings next to the knights of the Golden Company. She landed softly on the roof and from there jumped down and landed next to Harry Strickland.

When he had regained control of his horse he bowed and said, "My Lord."

On the other side of her she saw the Greatjon grin and asking, "You okay My Lady?"

Deciding it had been enough fun, Aurora removed her helmet, allowing her long red and black hair to flow down her back. Looking up with a grin she said, "Never better Jon." Turning to a flabbergasted Harry Strickland and his men she added, "Nice to see you again Harry."

"You… you… you're a woman?"

"Yea," she replied nonchalantly, "always have been."

"That, that merchant, that was a ruse?"

"Yea sorry about that but we didn't know what you would do so we had to take precautions. But save your questions for later, as right now we have a city to take."

Harry nodded slowly while she turned back to the matter at hand. "We should try to take the Archon's palace, from the looks I got in the sky, the city commanders and the Triarchy have barricaded themselves in there."

Harry nodded and she turned to the Greatjon. "How many have you lost so far?"

Jon scowled a bit before he replied. "Taking the gates was costly as you predicted. I think we lost about a thousand men on the approach alone, and even more while we had to wait for the portcullis to be raised. The gatehouse was fully manned and your Forlorn were unable to take it from inside the walls, though they did manage to hold the reinforcements back for a considerable amount of time seeing their numbers where so few."

"I know." Was all she replied before turning to the nearest Forlorn officer. "Captain, casualty report."

The man saluted and said emotionless. "As expected no survivors from the 500 in the city. Our assault force has lost 2,659 up to this point, of which 1.168 were Forlorn."

"That's acceptable, gather your men and follow me to the palace, the others can handle affairs here."

The man saluted again and began yelling orders. Barely five minutes later, a force of 2,000 Forlorn and 500 Unsullied marched away from the gates, following Aurora, who had re-donned her helmet, and the men from the Golden Company. The rest of the Forlorn would spread out around the other units moving through the city, to make sure none of them broke the rules they had set.

XXX

Oberyn was the first of his unit to get to the ladders as they were nearing the top of the walls. As soon as they touched, he started climbing while above him Gabrielle made a last pass over the walls to make sure none of the defenders, who were probably all scared shitless, got the idea to get out on the wall itself. As soon as the gigantic silver dragon was passed, Oberyn quickly climbed the last few feet and hopped over the parapets, coming face to face with some unknown sellsword.

Seeing as the man didn't carry a black band, Oberyn didn't hesitate as he pulled his spear from his back and thrust it into the man's throat. As he withdrew his weapon, blood spurted out of the wound and the man fell over, dead before he hit the ground.

He hurried towards the remains of the nearest tower where men were starting to pour onto the wall as they saw the attackers climb over the parapets. Oberyn engaged the first man he saw with his spear, stabbing it at the man's hand that held a mace. The man quickly moved his hand out of the way and struck towards Oberyn's head with his weapon, which Oberyn ducked in turn.

They traded blows for a short while until Oberyn struck the back end of his spear against his opponent's left knee. The man flinched in pain, which Oberyn utilized to stab his spear right into the man's stomach, before moving onto the next while all around him his men were engaged with their own opponents.

XXX

On the other side of the city, Dagmer was leading his men up the ladders as he saw the massive silver dragon head their way to ensure the walls were clear when they reached the top. To his surprise, the dragon made only a single pass before disappearing and once he reached the top, he was even more surprised to see Gabrielle hacking away at the enemy soldiers that were streaming onto the walls.

He quickly joined her in the melee, not that she even remotely needed it, but still it's the idea that counts. Gabrielle didn't even have to aim her massive axe; she just swung it before her and threw the enemy from the walls with shear impact force alone.

Deciding to rather stay clear than risk being hit by the fearsome axe, the rest of the Ironborn that climbed the ladders stayed back and instead headed in the opposite direction, towards another tower. They engaged the enemies that had been gathered there, noticing that they were little more than armed citizens, no doubt pressed into service out of necessity. Blessing their luck, they only had to kill a few before the rest of them surrendered. They were quickly disarmed and bound, before being left under a small guard while the rest moved further into the city.

XXX

Harry Strickland and the rest of his men fell from one amazement into the next as they followed Aurora into the city. It was as if she could smell the ambushes before they sprung and every hostile force they came across was quickly neutralized with brutal efficiency, either by her own massive axe or by the weapons of the Forlorn.

Just two blocks away from the Archon's palace, Aurora raised her balled right hand in the air and the entire army instantly came to a halt. She spread her hand, made a fist and spread it again, before pointing to a house on the end of the block on their right. Immediately 25 Forlorn split off and ran softly around the block. About two minutes later there came the sounds of clashing steel from around the house and Aurora quickly moved in followed by a second unit of Forlorn.

Shortly after, the sounds stopped and the army moved on, rejoined by most of the Forlorn who had split off. When they passed the house, Harry looked aside and had to suppress a shiver. About half a hundred sellswords, by the looks of them they were former members of the Brave Companions, lay butchered on the street and against the houses. A few armored corpses of the Forlorn lay between them but most were sellswords. Each of them had been meticulously killed by a cut throat, disembowelment or some other kind of instantly fatal injury.

Only the men of the Golden Company paid any heed to the dead, as the rest just marched on without looking left or right. A few minutes later they reached the large square before the Archon's Palace and upon seeing what awaited them there, the Forlorn wordlessly formed organized ranks with the Unsullied on the left flank and the Golden Company men stayed behind while they waited for orders from Harry Strickland.

Before the Palace the elite of the defenders were making their last stand. 1,000 Unsullied, 2,000 of what looked to be professional city guards and 500 freeriders. Aurora turned to Harry and said with a tone that allowed for no backtalk, "Get your men behind our lines and stay out of this. I'll handle it."

Turning to the Forlorn she yelled, "FORM SHIELDWALL. HOLD POSITIONS." Shields were raised and locked together with spears poking out through the holes as the Forlorn formed a Phalanx. The Freeriders were the first to move as they made to charge at their right flank.

What happened next was both surprising and unsettling to the Golden Company men. Aurora jumped into the sky and from beneath her cloak, two large scaly wings sprouted forth and with a few powerful thrusts she soared over the ranks of the Forlorn and landed right in the path of the charging horsemen.

As she landed she slammed both her fists into the ground on either side of her and sends a stream of ruby fire in either direction, blocking the horses' path to their lines and shocking the animals. More than a few of the riders were thrown from their mounts and those that did managed to stay in the saddle found Aurora waiting for them with both her hand-and-a-half swords stretched out on either side.

"Let's dance motherfuckers," she growled her and Gabrielle's personal battle cry as the first horses came storming towards her, with lances stretched out. The spear tips were less than a foot away, when she jumped up and landed on the lances, breaking them off and throwing their wielders off balance. Using the momentum of her jump, she stabbed both swords into the chests of the horses before her.

The animals crashed whining to the ground, throwing their riders off their backs who were subsequently decapitated with a single blow. What followed was a flurry of slashing swords and dying men as Aurora cut down one rider after the other, as their blades and spears broke upon her armor or where splintered by the impact of her swords. The screams of dying men and horses echoed over the square, putting a chill in the city guardsmen and dropping their morale quite significantly

However, even her nearly god-like strength was not enough to stop a full-on charge of 500 riders. After two dozen had been slain, three of the riders managed to land a blow simultaneously on her chest plate. Between them, the three lances managed to do what one alone could not, to bring her off balance and injure her.

One hit her on her shoulder plate, one in the middle of the chest and one on her abdomen. Whereas the first two shattered on impact, the later glanced downwards until it went between her chest and upper leg plate and penetrated the mail beneath, lodging itself deeply into her thigh. These combined blows were enough to throw her to the ground and the lance in her thigh broke off, pushing the barbed tip deeper into her flesh.

XXX

A sudden roar echoed throughout the city as Gabrielle felt the pain inflicted on her partner and in shared pain, she shocked everyone around her by jumping off the walls, into the smoke that lay across the city. Mere seconds later the gigantic silver blue dragon arose from the smoke and quickly winged her way towards the Archon's palace.

Before the riders could completely overwhelm Aurora's downed form, they were suddenly countercharged on their flanks. Two companies of the Forlorn had seen Aurora fall and without hesitating, acting purely on instinct, they charged forward, straight through the line of dragon fire.

With burning shields and blackened armor they emerged from the flames and fell on the freeriders from both sides, bringing them in disarray and breaking their charge, while four of them carefully retrieved their fallen leader and brought her to safety behind a double line of spear-wielding Forlorn.

Now that she had a lull in the battle, Aurora pushed herself upright and attempted to pull the lance out of her thigh, but she hissed as the barbed tip tore in her flesh and she settled for breaking off the tip instead.

As the Forlorn were massacring the freeriders, she felt Gabrielle's reaction to their shared pain and said, quickly " _Do not worry my love, it is not a serious wound, it just hurts like hell."_

" _Thank the Old Gods, but I'm still coming. The walls have fallen on all sides and what remains of the defenders is caught between our men who come from the walls, and the sellswords who are advancing from the city center. Maybe my presence can ensure that the Triarchs surrender without further battle."_

" _That is a good idea, I'll just go and scare them a bit more before you get here._ " She got an affirmative reply from her wife as she was soaring across the city while heading towards them.

Scanning her surroundings, she picked up a few of the intact spears that lay around her and judging the weight, she turned to the stairs that led to the entrance of the palace. There, feeling safe behind their men, were the Triarchs and their generals.

Taking the first spear in her hand, she aimed it over the heads of the Forlorn, who were in the middle of finishing off what remained of the Freeriders. In quick succession, she threw all four of them nearly 100 yards away, hitting each of the four generals on the stairs straight in the chest.

Before any of the city guards or the Unsullied could respond, Gabrielle's gigantic form burst forth from the smoke clouds that hung overhead. With a terrifying and ear-shattering roar Gabrielle landed in the courtyard, right before half a dozen freeriders that had managed to escape the massacre. A single swipe of her massive paw was enough to throw them across the square, horses included, and they smashed against a wall of the palace, leaving a few bloody smears behind as they fell to the ground.

Rising to her full height, Aurora walked slowly but determinedly, and with a small limp, towards the steps of the palace, past the last handful of struggling Freeriders that still remained alive. As she passed Gabrielle, her wife laid her head on the ground and Aurora pressed her helmet against her snout and rejoiced in the close contact, wishing that it could be without her helmet.

She turned back to the stairs and started limping towards it. She was dripping with crimson lifeblood and she used her swords as a kind of walking sticks on account of her injury. The image she projected, the massive dragon that followed her with her head, and the 300 or so remaining Forlorn that followed her, caused the men of the city guard to part before her with a mixture of fear and awe.

She walked unhindered between their ranks and headed straight for the trio that was still standing on the stairs. Once she stood before the trio she growled, "Which one of you is in charge?"

All three were cowering beneath her stare and obviously were trying not to look too much in charge. Finally, two of them shoved the third one ahead, who fell on his knees and looked begging in her eyes while the other two said at once, "He is in charge, he is the Archon of Tyrosh."

"Good," Aurora said sweetly while stabbing her swords into the marble stairs, breaking the steps apart. "That means I won't be needing you two anymore." Both her empty hands shot forward and grabbed the two men by the throat. She snapped their necks as if they were twigs and carelessly threw their bodies down the stairs.

Turning to the quivering man at her feet she studied him for a moment and was rather disappointed. He was a man in his late forties with a bright blue beard and a bald head. He wore a richly decorated robe of purple silk and his hands could not be closed because of the many rings he wore.

"Now, here is the current state of affairs. Your Sellswords have abandoned you, more than half your army is dead, your walls have been taken, and your city has fallen. However, many lives can still be saved if you surrender now."

"YES. YES. I surrender."

"Good, now order your army to drop their weapons and hand your Unsullied over to me. My army will stop their assault and you have 30 minutes to make sure every soldier has laid down his arms."

The man quickly nodded and ran off to the nearest group of officers and sends them on their way to spread the word of their surrender. Meanwhile Aurora plucked a black horn from her belt and blew a single low-pitched tone that echoed throughout the city.

A loud cheer arose from the men of the Golden Company and along the walls and throughout the city their army celebrated when they heard the horn blast. They had all been given a list of what the different signals meant and this was the one they had longed to hear since the fighting had begun. It was the signal for victory.

The city had been taken.

The battle was over.

They had won.

Author's note: Phew, that was along one. Twice the size of a normal chapter and by far the longest I have ever written. I know I have been looking forward to this chapter and judging from the reactions so have you. I hope I have delivered on your expectations.


	27. Chapter 27

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 27

It took less than the half hour Aurora had given them, for all remaining defenders to surrender. One by one, battered companies of sellswords and units of citizen-soldiers alike came back to the square before the palace. They were escorted by Westerosi soldiers and Golden Company men.

As they were marched past the victorious generals and their army, the vanquished threw down their weapons in a massive pile before being led out of the square and put into a hastily build prison camp located at the old slave market.

Gabrielle had flown off again after the Archon had surrendered and ten minutes later she came running from the direction of the southern gates, a unit of 500 Forlorn on her heels. The army that was gathered in the square parted for her like an opening gate, and she rushed towards her wife's side.

Aurora had been unable to keep on her feet, as her wound had proven more severe than she had originally let through. After accepting the surrender of the defending generals, she hadn't killed, she had retreated into the Archon's palace. She had refused any help and only took 50 Forlorn with her, leaving their military council to oversee the surrender of the remainder of the garrison.

Leaving the men following her to join the others in the square, Gabrielle forced her way through the lines of the defeated and ran up the stairs. "Where is she?" she asked to Oberyn and Dagmer who were nearest to her.

"She went inside, about 5 minutes ago," Oberyn replied, "She took some Forlorn and they locked the palace doors behind them. I'm guessing you're the only one who can get in."

She could detect a hint of worry in Oberyn's voice and as she looked to where Aurora had stood, she understood his worry. A pool of blood covered the steps and a trail of crimson drops led towards the palace doors.

Gabrielle didn't waste any more time and sprinted towards the doors which almost seemed to sense her approach as they opened on their own, revealing a double line of Forlorn with drawn steel that parted before her and closed back their ranks once she was through.

She didn't have to look far for her wife. Aurora was laying on the side of the hall, upon a bed made of pillows with several young women trying to remove her armor under the watchful eyes of half a dozen Forlorn.

Rushing to her lover's side, Gabrielle pushed the women away, not noticing the collars around their necks or the blood covering their hands and growled, "Leave us." The women quickly scurried away and Gabrielle pulled her helmet and gloves off. Seeing the exact location of the wound, directly on the hip joint, she muttered "Oh sweetie, this is worse than you said."

She quickly released the last few straps of her wife's armor and removed the breastplate, followed quickly by the left upper leg plate. She bared the wound on her left thigh and cursed. Turning to the two nearest Forlorn she said, "You, you hold her."

Said Forlorn immediately dropped their weapons and took a firm grip on Aurora's body, one holding her abdomen and the other her legs, keeping the wounded thigh elevated and giving Gabrielle the room to do what had to be done. Taking a firm grip on the broken shaft of the lance, she pushed.

An ungodly scream of pain echoed through the hall and all the 'normal' humans on the square looked up to the palace upon hearing it. The two Forlorn holding her down were nearly thrown across the hall as Aurora's arm struck out in a reflex, even within her blood-loss-induced unconsciousness.

Snapping her fingers, Gabrielle summoned half a dozen more Forlorn, all of them taking a firm grip on their general's body and keeping her down. Trying again, Gabrielle took a hold of the lance tip and this time she pushed it past the hip-joint, further tearing open her wife's flesh with the weapon's barbed edge. Giving it a final push she ignored the second scream and pushed the spear out through the back of Aurora's thigh.

Quickly grabbing the tip, she pulled the lance-tip out and immediately pushed her right index and middle finger into the back wound. Lighting her fingertips, she seared the major arteries closed, to stop Aurora from losing more blood than she already had.

Tearing her right wrist past one of the spikes on her shoulder plates she opened a cut and let her own blood flow into the wound, kick-starting Aurora's healing. She watched as the tissue of her leg knitted itself back together and the pale tint on her skin slowly began to be replaced by the normal color as her blood started to replenish itself.

As she was waiting for Aurora to wake up, she suddenly heard someone sneeze and upon looking in the direction of the sound, she saw the trio of young women she had so rudely send off earlier. "Please come here," she said gently and the women came scurrying towards her.

"I want to thank you for trying to help her," the women didn't respond but instead kept their heads lowered. "Look at me please."

When they looked up she growled softly and silently cursed the Archon. She saw the collars around their necks but as if that wasn't humiliating enough, each of them wore a short chain that was attached to a large nose ring as if they were cattle.

Gabrielle rose up back on her feet and approached the trio before her. Taking a hold on the face of the nearest one she inspected the ring and when she saw the ends were only pressed together, she pulled the ring open and removed it, swiftly followed by the collar. The other two swiftly got the same treatment and Gabrielle said, "From now on you three and every other slave in this city are free."

They looked at her as if she was crazy until it dawned on them that she was completely serious. They fell on their knees and tried to kiss her feet but she stepped backwards and said quickly, "Please don't."

When they placed their hands on the floor to push themselves back up, she saw the blood splatters on their hands and asked amazed, "Aren't your hands hurting?"

The trio looked just as confused as Gabrielle felt and they shook their heads in an identical motion. "May I have your hands?" she asked gently and as soon as the first complied, she felt it. It wasn't nearly as strong as it was with the twins or the Targaryens, but it was still noticeable. Trace amounts of dragon blood ran through their veins, though none of them showed any of the traditional signs in terms of hair and eye color.

Two of them had long black hair and blue eyes while the third had brown eyes and blond hair. The first two looked like sisters with roughly the same rounded facial features, while the third had a more elongated face.

"Where were you born?"

The question once again surprised them but they answered none the less. The two who looked like sisters both said, "In Selhorys."

The other one answered with, "Volantis,"

"I know what you're thinking and yes, you are probably right. But that can wait till later." Aurora's voice interrupted her thoughts. "For now, could you help me up, I believe it would be good for the morale of the army if they saw us both standing at the palace gates. No doubt my absence has already been noticed."

Gabrielle quickly knelt down and carefully helped her wife back on her feet. Aurora only wobbled a little as she stood upright, and a mere snap of her fingers was enough for two Forlorn to offer her a shoulder to lean on while Gabrielle re-attached the pieces of her armor that she had removed earlier.

Once done, Gabrielle took Aurora's arm and let her lean on her while they carefully walked back to the palace doors. Upon reaching them, the Forlorn opened them and formed a double line on both sides of the stairs.

When they walked through the doors, a cheer rose from their army as they saw Aurora back on her feet again. Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon let out a sigh of relief as they saw her, as during their short absence, a gloomy mood had taken hold amongst their men, which was strengthened after they witnessed Gabrielle's worry and the screams of pain they had heard.

Aurora raised her hand and when the army was quiet, she spoke clearly and loudly, but with a tired tone in her voice. "Today we have won a great victory, but it is a victory that was hard won. Move through the city, gather the fallen and move them to the designated areas outside the gates. Once that is done, rest and recover your strength.

Part of the Forlorn will go from house to house and free every slave they find, you all do the same with the ones you encounter. I expect you all to keep the peace for now and tomorrow, after the dead have been laid to rest, we shall divide the spoils of this battle.

Our defeated enemies are not to be attacked or in anyway harmed, Gabrielle and myself will deal with them personally. Those of you in need of medical attention, are to be accompanied towards the healers' tents back in our own encampment."

The various elements of their army immediately began with their assigned tasks and Aurora and Gabrielle made their way towards the area where the defeated enemies were being kept under guard. They took nearly half the surviving Forlorn with them as they expected the 'recruitment process' not to go down without a struggle.

Upon arriving at their designation, the old slave market, Aurora ordered all non-Forlorn guards to leave the large square and then they began the process of dividing the captives in differing categories; sellswords about 1,800, city guards around 4,000, and citizen-soldiers, the largest group by far with around 14,000 survivors.

The sellswords were immediately taken apart to be 'recruited', while the others were subjected to a superficial mental search. The more violently inclined were immediately given the same treatment as the sellswords while the rest was merely searched for any weapons they might have hidden on their bodies.

XXX

They spent nearly nine hours doing this and by the time they were reasonably sure that they had removed most of the dangerous elements, it was already long past midnight and they were knackered. Being up and about for 2 days straight was taxing on any normal human, but add in the extreme physical exertion of combat and the mental tax of 'recruiting' more than 5,000 soldiers, and it was enough to bring even their super-human bodies past the point of exhaustion.

Those of the defenders that were still 'human' at the end were given food and blankets before they were locked up under guard of the normal soldiers. Aurora and Gabrielle took the 5,400 new recruits with them back to camp after equipping them with makeshift hoods to cover their faces.

When they passed through the southern gates, they stopped for a minute to take in the scene that awaited them. The blood-drenched fields before the gates were well lit by torches and bonfires while a seemingly endless stream of soldiers was still carrying bodies out from the city or from beneath the far end of the walls. The bodies were separated in separate fields, attackers, defenders, and sellswords. They were somewhat relieved that the field with their own men was not as densely occupied as the others, but there were still way too many of them.

"How many do you think?" Gabrielle asked softly as she sadly survived the field.

"At least 25,000 for them and maybe a third of that for us. As for the sellswords, I'm guessing around 7,000 overall. We gained about 2,500 Unsullied and I think we'll be able to draft another 5,000 Forlorn from the city population, so if I'm right, we'll get out of it with more men than we lost."

"What does that mean for our plans? How many can we count on to fill the ranks of the Legions?"

"We got 3,000 Unsullied and 14,000 Forlorn. Add to that about 11,000 sellswords and we got enough for about 4 Legions, not counting the Ironborn and the Dornish, nor the Unsullied Argyll is working on in Astapor."

"You think that's enough for what we have planned?"

"Not even close," Aurora replied coldly, being much better at thinking logically in this kind of situations than her more empathic wife. "If Varys is right, and I have no doubt he thinks he is, then Astapor, Yunkai and Mereen, can gather a combined army of 90,000. Most of them will be slave soldiers, but until we establish a solid reputation for both ourselves and our army, they won't dare to betray their masters.

Our only chance lies in surprising Astapor and then quickly marching on and subduing Yunkai, before they can join forces with Mereen."

"Why don't you just use the dragons to destroy their armies, it would save a lot of lives." A male voice cut through their soft conversation.

"We won't because that would be counterproductive to our goal Syrio," Aurora replied to the Braavosi who had come up to them from the gates. "We need an army that is both large, well-trained, well-equipped and above all, experienced in combat. Besides that, we have only two dragons available for now, it'll be at least 5 years before Saphirus and Violet are large enough to be ridden into battle. So, we need armies that can operate without our support, if they are reliant on dragonfire to do their job for them, they'll get lazy and if they get lazy they will get killed."

"That kind of makes sense," Syrio replied while he scratched himself behind his head. "but anyway, I came to get you as the sellswords are asking for you. Harry Strickland and some kind of 'prince' came looking for you, apparently there is a little problem."

"O great," Gabrielle replied while suppressing a large yawn.

"Did Harry say what it was about?" Aurora asked a little irritated that their bed would have to wait a little longer.

"He did not, but he looked rather serious so I'm guessing it won't be something insignificant."

After letting out an identical sigh, both ladies turned to the nearest Forlorn officer, the only colonel of the original three to survive the battle and Aurora said, "Colonel, get everyone settled in and make sure everyone has a place to sleep, we'll see in the morning about scrounging up some armor for them."

The man saluted and began shouting orders before the army marched off back to camp in orderly ranks.

"New recruits?" Syrio asked with a hint of disagreement in his voice as he led them back into the city to where he had last seen Harry Strickland and the Tattered Prince.

Aurora nodded and replied, "Yea, we had to replenish the ranks and luckily there was enough scum amongst the prisoners to be able to do so."

Syrio apparently decided to keep his mouth shut, but they could both sense his disagreement so Gabrielle decided to interrogate him a bit. "What is it that disturbs you the most Syrio?"

The Braavosi was silent for a while as he thought about his answer but finally he replied, "Everything you two do and say about slavery shows your utter disgust about the practice, but here you are, essentially enslaving thousands."

"I understand what you mean Syrio," Aurora answered him, "but look at it this way. If we don't do it, then where are we going to get soldiers? Besides our Forlorn we have only 12,000 men, not counting the Sellswords, and we need a large number more than that. If we have to train up fresh recruits we'll be forced to spends years to get them to the point where we need them to be and we don't have that time.

Also, any other conqueror would have either enslaved them, or outright killed them, so us giving them a second chance to live a meaningful life in service of the people they have suppressed and enslaved for years isn't that bad."

Before Syrio could respond they saw Harry Strickland standing in the middle of a market square in his blood-splattered gilded armor. As soon as Harry saw them he walked over quickly and said softly, yet urgently, "We need to talk somewhere private, and quickly."

Gabrielle motioned with her hand and said, "Lead the way Harry, we're all tired so let's get this over with." He nodded and immediately turned around, leading them to one of the houses surrounding the square.

They immediately noticed that the house was heavily guarded, more than fifty knights in gilded armor surrounded the house with drawn steel, all with an equally serious expression on their faces as Harry himself carried.

As soon as they were inside and the door had closed behind them Harry brought the news, "Myles Toyne is dead, as are most of the other officers."

Blinking a few times, both Aurora and Gabrielle had to digest the news until they were able to respond. Finally, Aurora sighed and asked, "What happened exactly, Harry?"

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Harry told them. "Apparently Horro went behind our backs to the Archon and betrayed us. He told them that we were considering joining you and warned them that the others were doing the same. To make a long story short, Tatters, myself and Balaq are the only ones of the upper echelon the free companies have left, everyone else was killed during the battle.

Balaq was able to survive the attempt on his life because he was considered a lesser threat and he and his men were able to fight their way out of the ambush. Tatters and myself though have your Forlorn to thank for our lives. After the battle was over we quickly realized that a large number of officers had died, much more than was reasonable, and after we interrogated a few of the prisoners, we found out that the Brave Companions you killed were actually sent to eliminate me, and Tatters had a similar experience when a company of Long Lances riders tried to charge into his unit. Luckily for him a company of your Forlorn were close and they immediately intercepted the charge, losing half their number in the process."

"Besides the officers, what kind of losses are we looking at?" Aurora's clenched jaw would show her irritation to those who knew what to look for, but Harry was not amongst them.

"I don't mean to be rude, but losing the officers is a lot worse than the men we lost."

"I'm sorry about Myles and the others Harry, but we have to look at the big picture. A few dozen officers are easy to replace, a few thousand men are not, so give me the numbers."

Harry was a bit dumfounded by her brutal honesty and after shaking his head he pulled a piece of parchment from within his chest plate and after checking it he said, "I lost 2,400 men and the others lost about the same."

"So, most of the sellswords lying outside the walls were on our side."

Harry nodded sadly at Gabrielle's statement and said, "I'm guessing it'll be easier now for you to recruit what's left of the free companies, they'll be desperate for some stability in their lives after this."

Nodding softly at this Gabrielle asked, "What happened to Horro by the way?"

"I think your Forlorn got him before we did as he's still missing, but I'll put his head on a pike before the walls once I've found it."

"You do that Harry, but in the meantime, can you keep them under control until tomorrow? We really need to sleep and we're too exhausted to deal with this now."

Harry nodded and replied, "I'm sure we'll manage. Most of my men are already back in their lodgings and asleep. Only a handful are still in the city looking for bodies or patrolling the streets. I will follow your example I think and go to bed, I've never been so tired in my life. I lost a lot of good friends today, I hope it will be worth it."

"So, do we Harry, so do we," Gabrielle said softly in goodbye before she and Aurora took their leave. They headed straight back to camp, confiscating two horses from a stable next to a large house. Upon reaching their tent they tied the horses to a post outside it and made their way inside. Helping each other to remove their armor, they just dropped it in a pile and crashed down on their bed, dressed in their smallclothes.

XXX

They slept for nearly twelve hours straight, waking up in the afternoon when a familiar voice said, "You need to get up now, your presence is needed in the city."

"Just five more minutes Ash," Aurora groaned as she pulled the blanket out of Ashara's hands and back over her head.

Being not even in the slightest impressed by that rebuke, Ashara grabbed a pitcher with water from the table that stood in the centre of the tent and upended it over their heads.

After they were done yelling bloody murder, Ashara said calmly, "If you're quite done, your presence is required in the city. Now get up before I call in Saphirus and Violet." Turning around Ashara left the tent again to let them get dressed.

Taking the threat for what it was, both ladies got out of bed and put on their armor, noticing the now dried blood that still covered it from yesterday's battle. "Where is a squire when you need one," Aurora muttered, only to receive an unexpected reply.

"I'm right here my Lady, outside the tent," Sandor's rasping voice spoke as he heard the rhetorical question. "Do you require any assistance?"

"No thank you Sandor, we'll manage." Aurora replied quickly.

"Huh," Gabrielle remarked dryly, "I guess the family has arrived." Her point was proved correct when a small red-haired missile raced into the tent together with a black haired one. They were followed closely by two small dragons, though small was a relative term. They were small for dragons, as they both stood at roughly the same size as a very small pony with wings.

"MOMMY," Ygritte yelled as she and Layla hid behind Gabrielle's legs in a futile attempt to get out of sight of Saphirus and Violet.

"What have you done now Ygritte?" Aurora asked as she almost literally kicked the dragons out of the tent.

"Nuthing," the two girls giggled unconvincingly. As Aurora raised her eyebrows Ygritte said softly to Gabrielle, "I woke them up from their nap when we wanted to play."

Gabrielle and Aurora both smiling shook their heads as Gabrielle picked Ygritte up from the ground and carried her outside followed by her wife who carried Layla.

They found Sandor standing dutifully outside their tent, waiting for instructions while Silvana, Lissena and Yara were trying to calm down the two dragons and Ashara was sitting on a bench, rocking little Elia in her arms. The Immortals were spread out in a rough circle around the group, keeping a close eye on anyone coming to close for their comfort.

A little further away they could see Alys Umber, apparently waiting for them to emerge from the tent as she immediately came walking over when she saw them emerge. Upon a snap of Gabrielle's fingers, the Immortals allowed her through and once she stood before them Alys said, "It is good that you're awake, there is trouble in the city. Apparently, some of the men didn't listen to your, 'no plundering', rule. And fights have broken out between several of the Sellsword companies, Harry Strickland is having trouble with controlling them in the absence of their former officers."

"O great," Gabrielle muttered while Aurora stomped off in the direction of the Forlorn camp to gather some men to come with them.

Ten minutes later they headed into the city, followed by the family, the Immortals and 1,500 Forlorn. As they made their way towards the Archon's palace, they saw sporadic signs of plundering and infighting, both those activities were immediately brought to a halt with brutal, and somewhat violent effectiveness.

Upon reaching the square, they saw that Harry was indeed having trouble keeping the various sellsword companies from having at each other. Members from the Second Sons and the Stormcrows were arguing with members of the Company of the Cat. The only thing keeping the various companies from breaking out into actual fighting was the large number of Golden Company men that separated them, and the thousands of other soldiers lining the square.

Oberyn and the Greatjon where standing on the stairs with Harry Strickland and the Tattered Prince, all four were yelling and trying to calm down the various free companies, not that they had even the slightest success though.

"Where is Dagmer hanging out?" Gabrielle asked Alys as she and Aurora were scanning the crowd for the loud-mouthed Lord Captain.

"He went down to the dye markets, apparently there were some issues there as well. Some of the released slaves had cornered their previous owners and were dispensing some of their own justice."

"Any casualties?" Aurora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"About a dozen when we had heard about it, which was fifteen minutes ago."

Mumbling softly at Alys' answer, Aurora marched into the square with Gabrielle and Alys flanking her. The Forlorn followed them while the family stayed behind under guard of the Immortals.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Aurora's voice thundered over the square, immediately silencing everyone and drawing the attention from everyone.

Harry Strickland and the other three quickly descended the stairs and hurried over to them. As soon as they were standing before them, Aurora only had to raise her eyebrow to get Harry to explain.

"Some of those men took it upon themselves to, 'reserve', some of the better mansions for their own to plunder. They came head-to-head when the different companies tried to lay claim to the same mansions. A few fights broke out and eventually they brought their buddies to convince the others to give up on their claims. I brought in my own men to try and keep the peace."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Aurora let out a sigh and muttered some indiscernible curses before looking back up. "OKAY LISTEN UP EVERYONE." Once she was sure everyone was listening she continued a bit softer, "The next person trying to claim anything will not be getting a single penny of their just share.

I know that many of you are worried about your future, now that your officers have been killed, but I'm going to give you an option to secure both your own future, and that of your families if you have any." This certainly drew the attention of everyone in the square as this was indeed a point most of them were worried about.

"My family and myself, with our army and everyone who wants to follow us will go to Valyria, to rebuild and repopulate it. We will need an experienced army to help us defend it against any who would want to take its treasures for their own. Join us in our journey and enlist in our army. If you do, each and every one of you will get new weapons and armor, in addition to training in our tactics and way of fighting. You will get a steady salary for at least the next 20 years and your families will get a place to live in safety.

We had already offered these terms to your leaders, but they didn't have the chance to pass them onto you all before the battle began. You have until tomorrow at nightfall to decide. Those of you who want to accept, can sign up at our camp, we'll set up a tent for that as soon as we return."

She now turned her attention to the Westerosi soldiers as she continued, "This same offer goes for anyone from Westeros who wants a chance at a better life. We'll be in need of all kinds of craftsmen. Many of you have already been informed of this by the King or your own liege-lords, but we want to give you the option once more."

When she was sure everyone understood her words, she added with a warning tone in her voice, "Now I expect all of you to show an appropriate level of respect as we go to pay our fallen their final honors, after that, we'll feast and drink in their memory."

Not saying a word more, Aurora turned around and followed by Gabrielle, their family, the council, Harry and Tatters, she walked back out of the city towards the large open area before the walls where massive funeral pyres had been prepared.

The fallen, both attackers and defenders, had been stripped of their weapons and armor before being dressed in simple linen clothes and being piled on top of the pyres. Due to the large number of bodies, they couldn't make individual pyres, so they had made 80, each for more than 500 bodies.

During the night, a large number of the Forlorn had been working on scavenging armor and weapons from the areas near the walls and now their full number was waiting for them, standing at attention, as a kind of honor guard for the fallen next to each of the pyres. The roughly 2000 Forlorn who had fallen during the battle were placed on separate pyres and the 5400 that had taken their place were standing amongst the others, in differing scavenged armor, but all with their heads covered apart for the eyes.

As the remains of their army, in addition to many tens-of-thousands of freed slaves and other spectators spread out beneath the walls and on the fields around the pyres.

They waited for a while as the crowd spread out around them and after roughly half an hour, acting as one, pairs of Forlorn split off from around each of the pyres and came walking towards them, each carrying an unlit torch.

By the time the group was gathered before them, twilight had set in and the sky was slowly dimming to show the first stars of the evening.

Sandor came forward holding a single torch, not a small achievement for the scarred boy as he had gained a significant fear of fire since his ordeal, and held it before the Ladies. They each put one of their hands on the torch and a soft purple glow quickly grew around their hands until the torch burst into flames. Sandor's pupils widened a bit in fear but his hand never shook as he held the burning torch before him.

As he turned around, he found the six members of the council standing in a half circle before him, each holding a torch of their own. Holding the torch out to them, the six men held their own torches against his and the purple fire quickly took hold. As their torches were lit, they turned around and passed the fire on to the waiting Forlorn who spread it amongst themselves.

When all of them were lit, the Forlorn slowly walked back to their groups around the pyres and waited until the last had taken their place. When they had, they stuck their torches between the oiled wood and in a mass of conflagrations, the pyres caught fire and shot their flames high into the evening sky.

A respectful silence had descended on the crowd as the first torches were lit and a deep silence kept in place, only broken by the sound of the flames. Ygritte and Layla had been picked up by Aurora and Gabrielle when they felt the overwhelming sorrow of loss that seemed to spread out over the crowd and they had clamped their arms around the legs of the Ladies. Behind them, Ashara and the three other girls stood silent with a hand each on the necks of Saphirus and Violet. The dragons were staring at the purple fire as if they were hypnotized and acted remarkably subdued when compared with their normal rambunctious behavior.

The flames burned remarkably fast and the pyres were fully consumed by the dragonfire within half an hour. The ritually burning of the dead had one effect that neither of the Ladies could have predicted, nor would know about for a while yet. So many being consumed by magical fire gave life to something neither of them had knew about nor wanted to happen.

Hundreds of miles away from them, on the other side of the Disputed Lands in the great city of Volantis, all of the priests and priestesses in the great Temple of the Lord of Light had the same feeling. An inner fire lit itself within their chests and small tongues of fire leaped from their hands and eyes. All over Essos the same happened to all the priests and priestesses of the god known as R'hllor. With the return of dragon fire, came the return of magic and the Red Priests knew they had to find the source of this new-found power.


	28. Chapter 28

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 28

The day after the burning of the dead, the city was properly plundered, everything of value was stripped away, every house, manse and palace was cleared out and everything was gathered on the large square before the Archon's palace. The Forlorn and the Unsullied were patrolling the city to ensure that nothing was hidden away or stolen. Those few that did, where swiftly and brutally punished by the rules Aurora had stated before the beginning of the battle.

The same was true for those of the soldiers and sellswords that mistreated the inhabitants of the city. There were not many, but still several dozen men were hung around the palace square with signs placed at their feat telling of their transgressions.

It were mostly the men of the Golden Company and the Windblown that maintained order amongst their fellow sellswords and executed Aurora's punishments to those that stepped out of line.

Likewise many of the former slaves had to be kept from killing their former masters in repayment for past mistreatments. For example, in the morning someone had managed to sneak into the Palace and had killed the Archon, displaying his corpse in his cell for the jailors to find.

Many of the old masters and those involved in the slave trade had been arrested and put into 'protective custody' by the Forlorn. Which in most cases meant that they were never heard from again and the ranks of the Forlorn grew mysteriously that particular day. As Aurora had estimated, they had managed to recruit another 5000 Forlorn from the Tyroshi upper class.

The lower class citizens of Tyrosh where mostly left alone, since they had little of value to begin with, they had not much to lose.

After the spoils were gathered, they were divided equally amongst the Westerosi troops and the sellswords, by far the most of which had signed up with the expedition forces to Valyria. Only a few hundred, mostly those nearing retirement, or those crippled in the fighting, had refused the offer and went their own way after swearing an oath to never take up arms against them.

XXX

They stayed in Tyrosh for three weeks, long enough for their fleet to return to Myr and pick up everyone and everything of worth before Aurora and Gabrielle went in and burned the city to the ground. Afterwards they flooded the burning ruins with salt water which evaporated leaving a layer of salt that rendered the grounds infertile for decades to come.

Upon their return to Tyrosh there was a rather large surprise waiting for them. A trio of new ships where anchored in the harbor. All three were war galleys that no one recognized, but they were flying a crude representation of the sigil of House Valaris on their sails.

Oddly enough the ships were crewed by all-female crews including leather-clad guards who bore a remarkable resemblance to the warrior women of Kayakayanaya, and even spoke the same language.

Upon their return, Aurora and Gabrielle immediately headed over to the unknown ships and surrounded by the Immortals and their family, they approached the lowered gangplanks.

Suddenly the tense silence that hung over the entire harbor was broken by a female voice coming from the middle ship. "I have got to say girls, you two took your bloody sweet time getting here." When they looked for the speaker they saw a woman of exceptional beauty standing on the railing looking down on them.

The woman had long silver blond hair that was braided in a single thick braid and reached down to her leather clad behind. Her face was soft with clear blue eyes and a naughty gleam within them. Her ears, which were left bare thanks to the braid, were filled with jeweled golden studs and rings just like those of Aurora and Gabrielle.

She was wearing a tight fitting brown leather corset which reached to just over her ample bosom, to which was attached a skirt of leather strips that reached down to halfway down her upper legs. Her under arms and legs were protected by leather greaves and vambraces and she wore leather gloves which only covered the thumb and the first two fingers.

She was well armed with a pair of quivers slung over her right shoulder and a sword hilt over the left. In her right hand she held a bow made of golden colored wood and two knives were hung from a belt around her waist.

To the complete and utter shock of everyone around, both Aurora and Gabrielle were staring at the unknown woman with open mouths and a hint of longing in their eyes. Noticing this, the woman jumped down on the docks and slowly walked towards the Ladies, completely ignoring the threateningly raised axes of the Immortals.

"I arrived in some bigoted shithole called Lys about two months ago and for some reason all the soldiers and able-bodied free men were gone. So after I ran into these lovely girls," she pointed at the women who were crewing the ships, "it took us like no time at all to get our hands on some proper toys and we took over the city in a matter of days."

Still smiling she looked at the Immortals and said, "Put those axes down boys, I don't wanne have to harm you."

A softly whispered, "Sinny?" was all that escaped the lips of Aurora and Gabrielle before they shoved the Immortals aside and ran at the strange woman, enveloping her in tight hug that turned her a little blue in the face after a minute.

"Ehh, girls, can't breathe," she gasped and she was quickly released. Taking a small step backwards, Aurora and Gabrielle looked the woman up and down before breaking out into a broad smile.

"You have no idea how much we have missed you Francine," Gabrielle said softly so only the three of them could hear her. "We didn't know you were send here as well."

Slightly rolling her eyes, the now named Francine muttered softly, "Yea well some high and mighty wanker in the sky decided that you two could use some help, and here I am. I just wish they had sent us directly to you, as Ivy and I got separated after we arrived. I miss that big cuddly bear." A single tear slid across her beautiful cheek as she fondly thought off her husband.

"You mean Ivan came here with you?" Aurora asked with unhidden excitement in her voice. Francine nodded and both Ladies made a fist-pump in triumph. "That is great news, we missed you both and with him here, we won't have to train a general up from scratch."

Francine didn't share their enthusiasm though, and Gabrielle asked carefully, "What happened to him Sinny?"

"I'll tell you later when we have some privacy." She replied softly.

Aurora nodded silently before she looked up towards the crews of Francine's ships. "How many warriors did you manage to gather?"

"Just over two-thousand, apparently a race of barbarians called the 'Jogo Hai' or something, sacked a whole city that was defended by these warrior-women. From what I could gather from my new friends, there are somewhere between twelve- and fifteen-thousand of them left, besides the ones that are with me. Most were apparently send to Slaver's Bay but the rest, the best looking, were send to Lys to be trained as prostitutes. I have brought three-hundred with me and the rest are still in Lys, keeping the peace there."

"But how did you know we were here?" Gabrielle asked still a little confused by the sudden appearance of their long time friend.

With a cute grin Francine replied, "Well I heard rumors about a pair of women with god-like powers who were riding massive ass dragons into battle. So the link wasn't hard to make when news came to Lys that said women had taken the city of Tyrosh. So I packed up the best warriors amongst my new friends and sailed here, hoping to find you two."

A sudden tug on Aurora's cloak caused her to look down and she saw Ygritte standing behind her with Layla besides her. After motioning for Aurora to come closer, Ygritte whispered into her ear, "Mommy, who is that women?"

With a small smile Aurora picked up the little red-head while Gabrielle picked up Layla. Turning back to Francine, Aurora said, "Francine, let me introduce you to our youngest adopted daughter, Ygritte and her friend Layla."

"Hello," Francine said while smiling gently and offering her hands to the girls. When she opened them she showed two pieces of sugared cake which were quickly snatched away and devoured.

"Let's introduce you to the rest Sinny," Gabrielle said as she turned towards the rather considerable gathering that was looking at them.

Walking over to the rest of the family and the military council that had gathered themselves, they introduced them one-by-one to Francine before Gabrielle stepped onto a nearby cart and addressed the gathered mass of people.

"Hello everyone, I have good news, the island-city of Lys has been conquered in our name and is held by warriors loyal to our cause." A loud cheer arose amongst the troops and Gabrielle raised her hands to get them to quiet down again.

"This has been made possible by the Lady standing besides us. I would like to introduce to you Lady Francine, one of the longest standing retainers of House Valaris. She is a friend that we had long believed dead, but we rejoice in her renewed presence at our side."

A loud and long cheer arose again and some shouts of welcome could be heard before Gabrielle managed to calm the mass down again. "In a weak from now, we shall leave Tyrosh and head for Lys to pick up those who want to come with us, and then it is on to Valyria and our new home. I suggest you use the time till then to rest and decide upon what you want to do.

Tyrosh will become the new capitol of the Stepstones and come under the rule of the Iron Throne. Those of you who wish to stay here are welcome to do so. Those of you who want to go back home, whether it is in Westeros or elsewhere, you are free to do so. Those of you who want to come with us to Valyria will have to make sure they are registered and given a number and the name of the ship they will be housed on. Please make sure you do this on time and well before we leave. Until then, I bid you all a good day."

When she stepped down from the cart, she and Aurora led their little family to their encampment and to their tent. Addressing the group of warrior women that followed them in their own language.

"I have a surprise for you once we reach our encampment. When my wife and I were scouting out the defenses of this city, we also visited the slave market and we bought and freed a fair number of your fellow warrior women who had been captured when their army was defeated by the Jogos Nhai."

Cries of joy and surprise sounded from their followers once they reached the encampment and friends thought lost were reunited as the two groups of warrior women met each other. Valaya, the elected leader of the first group, approached them and asked with confusion and a hint of worry on her face, "How is this possible, many of those you now bring us were left at Kayakayanaya when we were send out to fight the Jogos Nhai. So how come they are here now?"

With a somewhat saddened expression Aurora replied, "I regret having to tell you this Valaya, but shortly after your army was defeated, a larger horde of Jogos Nhai besieged your city. The defenders fought bravely, but after two weeks of nearly constant assault, the city was taken and sacked. I'm very sorry, but the great fortress city of Kayakayanaya does no longer exist."

Valaya's face fell and she said softly, "We were afraid that would happen. With our army gone from the city, a full one-third of the defenders were gone and the city would be undermanned and vulnerable."

Aurora put a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder and when she looked up, Valaya said softly, "What have we now left to return to, our homes, our families, our friends, all are gone now."

"Your situation is not unlike that of many who now follow us, many of the former slaves have lost everything and have nothing to return to. So let me present you with an offer, for both yourself and all of your sisters. Come with us to Valyria, we shall have great need of warriors with your skills. We can give you a new home, and a new cause to fight for should you desire one."

Nodding softly Valaya replied, "We know that. My sisters and I have spoken about it to great length when you were gone. And most agree with me, we would like to join you to Valyria and fight by your side, as your personal guard if you would want us."

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a mental grin of satisfaction, as this was exactly what they had hoped for. Nodding their heads with a smile on their face, Gabrielle said, "We would be grateful to have such skilled and brave warriors as you at our sides, but be warned. Once we get to Valyria, we will push you harder than you have ever been before, for if you are to guard us in battle, we must be sure that you are able to do so."

Valaya nodded and with a small shimmer in her eyes she replied, "Whatever obstacles come on our way, we shall overcome them to reach this goal."

"Then go, and tell your sisters to step up their training. When we leave next week, you will be part of our vanguard." Valaya quickly bowed at Gabrielle's words and sped away to spread the word.

"That went better than I expected," Aurora mused softly as Gabrielle and Francine walked besides her.

"You planned this from the start, didn't you." Francine stated more than asked.

"What gave it away." Aurora grinned back as they reached their tent and she let the others pass in first. Turning to the rest of the family she added, "Please keep yourselves occupied until dinner, the three of us have much to discuss in private."

After receiving a few acknowledging nods, the group dispersed with Sandor taking up a position directly before the overhang with two of the Immortals on either side of him.

Once they were inside, both Aurora and Gabriele removed the outer layer of their armor with a little help from Francine before they sat down around the small table. Now that they could speak freely, they dropped the cover stories.

"So tell us, what did those wankers tell you when they send you here?" Francine smiled at Aurora's blunt question and she started her story.

"The day after you left, Ivan and I were asked if we wanted to help you in this new world. Of course it wasn't really a hard decision on our part. We said goodbye to the others and followed you shortly.

 _Three months earlier._

 _With a loud 'SPLASH' two bodies fell into the waters of Slaver's Bay, about two-hundred foot from the shore. Weighted down by the armor they wore, Ivan and Francine struggled to keep their heads above the water as they swam to the shore. Internally they were cursing the sense of direction of whatever deity had send them here._

 _It took them almost 5 minutes to make it to shore, and only because of their stronger than normal bodies were they able to keep going. As they lay on the shore, recovering from their ordeal, they looked each other in the eyes and couldn't stop the grin from spreading over their faces. Taking off their respective helmets they then shared a tender kiss._

" _I wonder where the Ladies are," Ivan asked as he sat up to inspect their surroundings. Before he could get a good look though he felt an all too familiar sensation. That of cold steel being pressed against his throat._

 _Not thinking twice about it, his left arm shot up to keep the blade from cutting his throat, while his right shot behind him. Feeling what was no doubt the head of his would-be-captor, he balled his massive fist, crushing the persons skull with little more effort than it would take to squash an orange._

 _Springing up on his feet, he drew the massive greatsword that was laying besides him and with a single wide slash, he cut down three of his attackers. Before he could search for more though, a sudden cry of, "Ivan," drew his attention._

 _Turning around to the love of his life, he saw to his shock that she had not had the chance to draw her weapons and two men were holding her whilst a third held a blade to her throat. The man with the blade yelled something in a language he did not understand, but the meaning was clear. 'Surrender, or she dies.'_

 _Seeing no other way out, Ivan lowered his sword and dropped it on the ground before the men. From somewhere others quickly came running towards them with chains and thick ropes. First they took of Francine's armor, leaving her in a simple linen tunic. They then tied her with her hands behind her back and all the while keeping that cursed blade against her throat._

 _When they were done with his wife, they moved to him and with signs and pointing of spears, they told him to remove his armor, which he grudgingly did. Once the last part of the heavy armor was dropped, he was bound in chains and together, he and Francine were led towards an ox-drawn cart. The cart had a steel cage on it that already held several men and women and they were forced to get in as well._

 _Once they were in the cage, Ivan finally had the chance to look around them and to his frustration he saw that they had apparently landed in what looked suspiciously much like a slaver caravan. Around them were at least a dozen more carts and with a little grim humor he saw half a dozen of the slavers putting their armor on a cart._

 _They struggled to lift the various pieces of his armor and when they came to the massive great sword and flail he had carried, one of them got the heavy spiked ball, which was the size of a human head, directly on his foot crushing it beyond salvation._

 _After two days in the cart they finally arrived at a large city, the massive walls surrounding it were made of many colored bricks. Great pyramids commanded the skyline, with one towering over all the others._

 _From the murmurs of the other slaves they heard one word that was constantly repeated and apparently was the name of the city, "Mereen."_

 _The caravan moved into the city and after riding through a multitude of streets, they arrived at a truly dreadful place, the slave market. A fearful look spread over Francine's face as she whispered, "Ivy, I don't want to leave you."_

 _Pressing his forehead against his wife's, Ivan whispered back, "Neither do I love, but you have to be strong. I know what will happen to me, I'll be sold to become a gladiator or something similar. You on the other hand, you're beautiful, everyone can see that. The chance is great that you'll be bought and then send far away from here. If that happens, get yourself free and find Aurora and Gabrielle, they'll know what to do._

 _Promise me, don't come back for me, not until you have found them and they can come with you."_

 _Before Francine could respond, the door of the cart was opened and as he predicted, the men pulled Ivan out first. As they dragged him away he resisted as good as he could while saying, "Promise me Sinny, promise me you won't come for me, not on your own."_

 _With tears in her eyes Francine nodded and screamed after him, "I promise, I promise. Just hold on. I'll find them, and we'll come back to get you."_

"That was the last time I saw him." Francine finished with tears in her eyes. "I was sold to a slave trader from Lys. I was fortunate to have a fellow slave who spoke our language, which is known here as the Common Tongue, and she taught me to speak the Bastard Valyrian spoken by the slavers."

As she finished her tale, both Aurora and Gabrielle were silent for a while as they thought about all she had said. "So…" Aurora began after a while. As the other two looked at her, they saw a frighteningly familiar sight. Her eyes were blazing with black fire and the edges of her hair were burning with the same. "Mereen it is then, I'll be back before we leave."

As she made to stand up and leave the tent, Gabrielle jumped up and grabbed her shouting, "GET YOUR MIND CLEAR AND THINK. Remember what happened at the plaza. _I can't lose you_ , and neither can the girls."

"Those pathetic slavers will never kill me, I'll burn them all. Ivan needs us right now."

"YOU ARE NOT IMMORTAL RORA. NOR ARE YOU A GOD. WE CAN'T TAKE ON AN ENTIRE CITY BY OURSELVES"

"THEN WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST WE DO? WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM THERE."

"Nor shall we. But rushing head first towards one of the greatest slaver cities won't help him if we can't get to him." This seemed to calm Aurora somewhat, and the fire in her eyes and hair receded, letting Gabrielle know it was save to let her go.

"We are not going to let Ivan suffer there any longer then he has to, but we need to plan this properly. I am convinced that the three of us can get him out of there without too much danger. Ivan is tough, far tougher than any man he's going to face in that arena. He'll survive for a few weeks more."

"I take it you have a plan then?" Francine interrupted their discussion with a small scowl on her face.

"Of course I have a plan," Gabrielle retorted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Turning to Aurora she added with a grin, "I think it's time we let Valaya and a few of the others in on a little secret, and see how skilled they really are."

Immediately realizing her plan, Aurora started grinning as well. "I'll go inform her, meet me at the armory tents." Before either of the other two could object, she had jumped up and sped out of the tent.

Immediately she sought out Valaya, who's tent was located relatively close to their own, and upon reaching it, she knocked on the wooden entrance pole. Mere seconds later the overhang was opened and Valaya's head appeared.

"My Lady," She said quickly while stepping out of the tent and making a bow, "What is it you need of me?"

With a small feral grin Auror replied, "Gather 30 of your sisters, the best fighters you can find, and meet me at the armory tents in 1 hour. I have a mission of the utmost importance."

With a little more enthusiasm than was appropriate, Valaya nodded quickly and after bowing again, she headed back into her tent to gather her own equipment. Aurora, satisfied that she would do as she had ordered, made her way to the armory tents.

Upon reaching her destination, she saw her wife and Francine already there and talking with the head armorer.

Aurora went to stand on the other side of her wife and said, "Valaya is gathering the others and she'll bring them here."

"That's good," came the reply from Gabrielle, "I think it's time we went to work on the dragon carcass, I have already given orders to bring it here, so it'll probably arrive somewhere early tommorow."

"Great," Aurora replied, "If you and Sinny start on that, I'll focus on the weaponry."

"Yea sure," Francine replied with a scowl, "Leave the most untasteful job in the cold to us, while you go off gallivanting in the nice warm forge."

"Eh, if memory serves, you nearly burned down the forge last time I allowed you in, so…"

"Yea whatever." Francine scoffed a little at Aurora's words while Gabrielle grinned softly.

At that moment they were interrupted from discussing it further by the arrival of Valaya and her chosen sisters. They all made a collective bow and the three ladies were pleased to see both groups of warrior women were represented.

Turning to the group Gabrielle took the word. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, but we have a mission for you, one of the utmost importance.


	29. Chapter 29

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 29

The immense fleet, more than 1.800 ships, packed to the brim with soldiers and their families, freed slaves, settlers and fortune seekers, slowly turned away from Tyrosh. The last ships to leave the harbor were the _Chain breaker_ , carrying the girls, Ashara, Elia, and the rest of the family, which was flanked by the _Sapphire_ and the _Emerald_.

Aurora, Gabrielle, Francine, Valaya, and the 30 chosen warrior-maidens were standing on the docks, waving them off. They would be taking a little detour on their way to Valyria.

Over the past week-and-a-halve, Francine, Valaya, and the others had been given new armor. Each of the women was now dressed in supple leather armor, sewn with small dragon scales for added protection, this combination made it very light-weight and supple, but tough enough to negate a sword-blow.

Each of them was armed with a recurve bow, with 50 arrows in a double quiver over their right shoulders, a pair of long knives, and a glaive. The glaive was something special, it consisted of three separate parts, two 3-foot long pieces of Ironwood, and a 2-foot long falchion made of Valyrian steel, which could be attached by means of a screw-lock to form a 8 foot long weapon capable of slicing through a steel breastplate as if it was cloth. The separate pieces where stored in a special holster on their backs, allowing them to draw the falchions over their left shoulders.

The falchions had been Aurora's project as, without access to the Valyrian forges, she was the only one amongst their blacksmiths capable of reworking Valyrian steel. Gabrielle and Francine had taken the task of 'skinning', the dragon corps with the aid of Valaya and the others. The bones, wings, meat, and the largest scales had been saved to be processed later and were stored back on the flatbed and were on their way to Valyria.

They waved the fleet out until the last ships had sailed out of the harbor, before turning to the city and all those who were staying behind. The Greatjon and the majority of the remaining forces from Westeros, some 30.000 men, were still occupying the city and awaited the colonization from the Seven Kingdoms. Jon had said a heartfelt farewell to Dagmer and Oberyn, with whom he had formed a tight friendship during the months they had spend together.

"Well Jon," Aurora began as she and her wife stood before the large Northerner, "I guess the time has come for us to also say our goodbye's. The Dragons are waiting for us and are eager to get going. We have an old friend to find, and an empire to build."

"I'm afraid the coming years will be dull without your presence." The Greatjon answered with a grim smile as he shook Aurora's offered hand. "But I wish you all the best in the world for the future and I hope to see you again one day."

"Likewise Jon," Gabrielle said while shaking the man's hand, "We wish you all the best and please give our greetings to the Royal family when you return to King's Landing. Tell Rhaegar we'll come and visit them once we have everything running smoothly in Valyria."

"I will my Lady," Jon answered before adding with a grin, "Or should I say, Your Grace."

"Not yet Jon, not yet." Gabrielle replied while she and Aurora grinned softly. "but _you_ will never have to call us that."

Jon made a small bow, which was replicated by the rest of the army before Aurora and Gabrielle led the others away until they were well out of sight of the city and any human eyes.

Stopping on a large clearing, Aurora and Gabrielle turned to the others and with a wink to Francine, Gabrielle said to Valaya and the others, "Aurora and I have decided to let you in on a little secret of ours. I'm sure you've all seen the dragons and you are probably wondering where they are now, so let us show you."

At those words Aurora walked away from the group and once there was a good distance between them, she changed. Screams of shock and fear where heard from the group and an impressed whistle from Francine could be heard before she whispered in Gabrielle's ear, "You guys are certainly a lot larger than last time I saw you."

"Yea, I know right," Gabrielle whispered back before turning the others. "As you can see, Aurora and I are not what everyone thinks we are. We don't _ride_ dragons, we _are_ dragons." She proceeded to tell them where they had come from and what their purpose was in Essos. Next she re-introduced Francine to them, telling them who she really was and finally what their mission was.

"We are going to Meereen to rescue Ivan, Francine's husband. He is an incredibly powerful warrior and will be the one to lead our army into battle. He is a person _we cannot lose_ , which is why we are taking you along. Prove yourself during this mission, and you will have earned your place within our Royal Guard."

A short silence fell over the clearing until Francine spoke up, "If you're done with the touchy-feely, can we get going, I have waited long enough to have Ivy in my arms again and I want to get there as soon as we can."

Gabrielle had to chuckle at that and Aurora let out an amused snort, before Gabrielle removed her pouch from her belt and started to remove the two saddles they had also modified a bit the past week. They had been reinforced and elongated so now they ran from the base of their necks, down their backs, to their hind legs, offering a comfortable seating for 18 people max each, though adding so much people would slow them down significantly.

Whereas without any passengers they could make the trip to Mereen in two days, it would now probably take them at least 3 days to reach their destination. They had the time though, as the fleet was not expected to make it to the edges of the storms that surrounded Valyria, for 3 weeks.

Seeing as they had already shown the others how to properly fasten the saddles, Gabrielle changed into her dragon form as well. Francine immediately took charge, which the others accepted without problem because of her standing with the Ladies, and directed the 31 warrior-maidens in how to attach the saddles. Once they were secured, Francine double checked each buckle and knot to make sure everything was as it should be.

Once she was satisfied, she mounted on Aurora with 15 others, while Valaya climbed onto Gabrielle with the other halve of their group. Everyone strapped themselves in securely, Aurora and Gabrielle had not needed to express the importance of that, as none were eager to fall to their deaths. Once everyone was seated and secure, Aurora and Gabrielle stretched their immense wings and beat them faster and faster as they took a short running start before jumping into the sky.

It became immediately clear that not everyone was equally comfortable in the sky. Of the 32 passengers, nearly half were initially feeling rather nauseous, but most felt better once Aurora and Gabrielle had reached their desired altitude and leveled out in a smooth flight pattern. Only 3 kept feeling sick for the entire duration of the trip.

The third evening after they left Tyrosh, they could see Slaver's Bay stretching out below them. With their incredible eyesight, Aurora and Gabrielle were able to see the cities far better than their passengers. When they flew over Astapor, they had to suppress the urge to land when they recognized the trio of carracks they had given to Argyle, where they lay in port.

An hour later they flew over Yunkai, the Yellow City sprawling beneath them in the waning light. An hour after that again, the two dragons descended, careful to remain out of sight, and landed between the sandstone mountains that lay to the north of the greatest of the slaver cities.

Once they had landed, Aurora and Gabrielle changed back to their human form and laid down on the floor to sleep, exhausted. They had taken only two sleeping breaks during the trip, and the last one had been 20 hours ago, between that they had only made short stops for their passengers to relief themselves.

As the Ladies slept, Francine sent the others out to scout the terrain around them. They had all slept in the saddle, for as good as they could, so they were somewhat rested. In groups of three they went their separate ways to find out what was around them. Francine, Valaya, and three others remained at their camp to watch over the Ladies as they slept.

The groups were away for several hours before they began to return. Most groups had little of note to report, save for three of the groups, who had went to the lower lands in the direction of the city. They returned leading two dozen horses they had 'liberated' from a slaver caravan leaving the city. They had also brought two of the slavers to interrogate and a few saddle bags filled with gold coins and other valuables they had no doubt gained from selling their victims.

Upon their return, Aurora and Gabrielle where woken by Francine who shook them softly and said, "The scouts have come back, we need you to interrogate some prisoners they took."

Stretching themselves out they groaned softly as their stiff muscles protested, sleeping on the hard ground in their armor was not exactly comfortable. As they rose, Francine handed them each a skin with water which they used to wash the sleep from their eyes.

Once properly awake, they turned on the two prisoners. The two men wore long robes made from blue silk and they had light brown skin. They were both bald on the top of their heads but they had thick beards covering their cheeks and chins.

Stretching their fingers, Aurora and Gabrielle each grabbed the head of one of the men and broke into their minds. After a few minutes they pulled back again and in an identical move, they snapped the necks of the men and their bodies dropped to the ground.

Turning to the others Gabrielle spoke, "Luckily for us, these two… 'things', have visited the fighting pits while in the city, so now we know where to look. The best chance to find Ivan would be at the great pit of Daznak, the greatest and most opulent of the fighting pits."

"Why there?" Valaya asked curiously, "you told us he has been in the city only a few months, and the greatest pits are only for champions."

With a small grin it was Francine who answered, "Well let me describe him for you. Without his armor he stands at 7 foot 6, weights in at about 700 pounds of pure muscle, and he can crush a grown man's skull with a single hand." Looking over at the ladies she added, "With his armor on he looks about as intimidating as those two, but a few sizes larger."

"So he's a Sothoryi?" One of the others asked carefully.

"A what?" the three asked nearly as one.

"A Sothoryi," Valaya explained, "they live on the continent of Sothoryos, which lies south of Essos. They are all large, heavily muscled and considered savages and incredibly potent fighters, if a bit dimwitted."

"Ivan is not a dimwit" Francine snapped back, "though he can be quite the savage in bed if I'm in the mood for it." She added with a blissful smile on her face.

To answer Valaya, Gabrielle explained, "Ivan is not a Sothoryi, once he was a man like any other, but like us three, he has been blessed by the Old Gods with a new body and great strength."

The others nodded in acceptance of this explanation and Valaya asked, "So how do we proceed? Do we go in, kill everything that tries to stop us and free your man, or de we go for a subtler approach?"

"Well first of all we are just going in to visit, get the lay of the land and find out where Ivan is being held. After that I'll first see if we can't buy him free, which I hope because it'll save us some trouble. If we are unable to buy his freedom, we break him out forcefully and then flee the city. Under no circumstance are any of you to start a fight or to insult anyone. Just try to act calmly and composed. There will be men who insult you, and men who will try to buy you, just ignore them and keep your eyes open. If there is trouble, I want you to wait before engaging it, unless it would endanger either yourselves, Francine, my wife, or myself, or if you can 'take care of it', without drawing attention."

The others all nodded and seeing as dawn had arrived a few hours ago, they loaded up the horses, incinerated the two corpses of the slavers, and readied the horses. Aurora and Gabrielle changed into the same long robes they had worn during their scouting trip to Tyrosh, and they buckled the short swords around their waists.

Their armor and the rest of their weapons they had stored into the pouches to prevent anyone from recognizing it and linking them to Ivan. A few of them had to share their horses, and Aurora and Gabrielle took the largest and strongest horses for themselves, as even without their armor, their bodies were larger and heavier than those of the others.

Going on a steady pace, they rode on for several hours until they approached the gates of Meereen around noon. As a precaution, Francine, Valaya, and all the others wore leather half-helmets to cover their faces and avoid anyone from recognizing them. They were stopped by six guards carrying spears, swords, and shields emblazoned with a harpy.

"What is your business in Mereen ?" The apparent officer asked in bastard Valyrian

"We want to visit the fighting pits," Gabrielle replied, "we are interested in buying a champion." She reached in her money pouch and tossed a silver piece to the officer. "Perhaps you could direct us to a place where they sell champions?"

The man caught the silver piece and bit on it to judge its worth before replying, "If your purse is big enough, the Great Master Allazar, of the house of Daznak, has acquired a monster of a man a few months ago. He is known as the Demon of Daznak, for he has killed everyone send against him. I myself have seen him kill 10 veteran pit fighters in a single battle with naught but a loincloth and a blunted sword.

Master Allazar wishes to sell him, for all other Great Masters refuse to set their fighters against the Demon for fear of losing their best fighters, so he is losing profit."

Hiding the gleam in their eyes, Aurora, Gabrielle and Francine listened intently to the man's directions as to where they could find this Master Allazar. They had a very good idea as to who this Demon was.

Once the officer had told them everything they wanted to know about master Allazar and the 'Demon', Gabrielle tossed him a golden honor and they were let into the city. Following his directions, they rode through the busy streets and passed the many opulent pyramids where the Great Masters lived with their families.

After half an hour of navigating through the streets, they reached a large round building located next to one of the pyramids. "I guess this has to be the place." Francine said before taking a long deep sniff of the air around them. A blissful smile spread slowly over her face and she said, " He's here, I can smell him."

Aurora and Gabrielle followed her example and they could detect Ivan's distinct smell amongst the thousands of others that surrounded them. "Well then," Aurora said with a grin, "Shall we go get your husband?"

Francine nodded quickly but Gabrielle added, "Remember Sinny, act as if you don't know him, or otherwise it might draw suspicion to us. We need to avoid a confrontation if at all possible." Francine nodded solemnly and they headed towards the gates of the arena.

At the entrance they were stopped by six Unsullied guards, who aimed their spears at them and one of them asked in bastard Valyrian, "Who are you and what is your business here?"

"We have come from afar in search of a champion pit fighter, and we heard that the Great Master Allazar of the House of Daznak is selling such a man." Gabrielle answered the eunuch.

The guard who had spoken nodded once before he replied, "Wait here, this one shall inform it's master." Raising his spear, he marched off into the arena while the other five kept their spears trained on them.

After maybe five minutes, the guard returned followed by a man in a white silk robe they recognized as a local fashion called, a tokar. The man bowed before them and spoke, "The Noble Allazar, Great Master of Meereen welcomes you to the great pit of Daznak. He invites you to enter the arena and see for yourselves the wares he has to offer."

Aurora and Gabrielle bowed their heads back in reply and Gabrielle said, "We thank the Noble Allazar for his hospitality and gratefully accept. Is there perhaps a place where we can water our horses, we have ridden far and our mounts are thirsty."

"Of course," came the reply, "you will find stables inside. The slaves there will take care of your horses while you speak with Master Allazar."

Aurora and Gabrielle bowed again and followed the man into the arena. They rode through what was obviously not the official entrance, and they came out on a large square with what looked like cells around two of the sides. One side was occupied by stables housing horses, camels, and donkeys. The fourth side was blocked by the pyramid and showed a large terrace where the Master could entertain his guests.

The square itself was nearly five-hundred foot from side to side, and around 200 men were practicing with a wide variety of weapons. To their disappointment they couldn't see Ivan anywhere, but they managed to not let it show.

Before the entrance of the pyramid stood a man in a purple silken tokar. He was flanked by two young women who softly waved feathered vans to keep their master comfortable. Next to the entrance and scattered around the courtyard stood pairs of Unsullied soldiers, to keep an eye on the training fighters.

At a word from Aurora, Francine and Valaya flanked her and Gabrielle, while the others took the horses to the stables to make sure they were well cared for.

Walking towards the pyramid, they stopped before the entrance and the man in the white Tokar introduced the man with the words, "I present Master Allazar, of the Great House of Daznak. Trainer of Champions and master of spectacles".

Aurora and Gabrielle made a small bow in greeting to the man in the purple tokar, a gesture that was replied to with a bow of his own. Gabrielle introduced them in turn, "My name is Gabrielle and this is my business partner Aurora. We are traveling merchants and have a client who is very interested to buy a Champion Pit fighter. At the gates we were informed that you had one such Champion for sale."

"That I do indeed," Master Allazar replied. "I keep him apart from the other fighters, since his mere presence frightens the others. But before I show him to you, I must warn you, he does not come cheap."

In reply Aurora snapped her fingers and Valaya opened one of the saddle bags she had taken from her horse. A golden shimmer greeted the greedy eyes of Master Allazar and Aurora said, "Our pockets are deep, so do not worry about that. If your Champion is what we seek, then I have no doubt we can come to a mutually prosperous arrangement."

Allazar seemed to be pleased by the look of gold, so without further delays, he led them across the training yard and into the arena proper. They followed him through a maze of tunnels and cells until they reached a thick sturdy door guarded by four Unsullied armed with a combination of axes and spiked maces.

With a slight scowl, Aurora asked, "Why the guards? Has he tried to escape or something?"

Allazar shook his head and said, "No, he has not, but there has been attempts at his life by rival Masters who have lost their best fighters, or great sums of money thanks to him. So to prevent the loss of such a valuable fighter, I keep him here under constant guard in his own private courtyard."

And indeed, once the door opened, they saw a small open space, about 20 feet by 20 feet, with walls going up for maybe 40 feet. A single door led to a sleeping cell and they could see a badly battered tree trunk standing in one corner with several wooden practice swords laying in pieces besides it.

"DEMON," Allazar yelled in Bastard Valyrian and within seconds, the largest man Valaya had ever seen came walking out of the sleeping cell. He was so large he had to almost fold himself double to be able to fit through the door, and they could literally feel the ground shake with every step.

Next to Valaya, Aurora, Gabrielle and Francine had to forcibly stamp down their excitement as all three immediately recognized Ivan. He only wore a linen loincloth, clearly displaying his immense musculature. His hair was black and cut into a Mohawk leading to a short braid ending between his shoulders. His dark grey, almost black eyes widened a little a he recognized the three women, but upon seeing their faces, or part of it in Francine's case, he immediately catches on to the plan and stays mute, not showing any reaction whatsoever. He stretched himself out to his full height and stood before Allazar and his guests.

"This is him," Allazar said proudly, "The Demon of Daznak, the greatest champion I have ever trained."

All three Ladies had to suppress a snort as they knew more than certainly that Allazar had absolutely nothing to do with Ivan's fighting prowess.

"He is certainly impressive," Aurora praised while walking slowly around Ivan. "Where did you get him?"

"I bought him from a caravan coming from Yunkai. They claimed they found him and a woman crawling from the waters of slaver's bay. They were clad in armor so they were exhausted once on dry land."

"Where are this woman, and their armor?"

"The woman was sold to someone from Lys, so I have no idea where she is right now, especially since Lys seems to have been conquered by those savages from Westeros. I did manage to buy both their armors though, as he seemed to be attached to it, hers in particular."

All three women looked up at this, as it was more than they had dared hope for. They had already made peace with having to search the entire city for those armors. "Can we see those armors?" Gabrielle asked neutrally, "Because if he is attached to them, it might help to keep him under control."

Allazar nodded and replied, "I keep them in the pyramid under guard, we will go there after you have finished your inspection. My solar is a much more comfortable place to have business talks."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in agreement and pleading with her eyes for forgiveness, Aurora grabbed Ivan by the mouth and opened his lips to inspect his teeth. "Nice and strong," she muttered before quickly releasing him. She next turned to his muscles and squeezed his biceps and before turning to his legs. To her amusement she saw that his upper legs were about the same size as Valaya's torso.

As she stood back up, she nodded in satisfaction and turned to Allazar, "I have seen enough, let's retreat to your solar and speak business."

Allazar nodded and turned to Ivan saying, "We're done, you can go." Ivan nodded and turned back around, folding himself to get back inside.

Allazar led them back through the maze of tunnels and out into the training yard again. They crossed the yard and followed Allazar into the pyramid, up a few stairs until they reached a massive ironwood door, reinforced with steel bars. The six Unsullied standing guard before the doors stepped aside when they saw their master and opened the doors, letting them in.

They arrived in what was no doubt a treasury/trophy room, as several sets of richly decorated armor stood against one wall, while the other was covered by closed reinforced chests. The centre pieces of the room where placed against the back wall.

Two sets of armor, one gigantic, brutish, black set with blood-red engravings all over it, and the other was about a third of the size, with the same colorings, but much more streamlined and made for movement. Both were full armors, black plate steel with rusted red mail beneath. Walking closer to the armor and weapons, Aurora and Gabrielle inspected them closely.

The black one was similar in looks to the armor of Aurora and Gabrielle, with a few differences. The shoulder plates were smooth but with two horns, one on each, curving upwards to about ten inches. Funnily enough, the horns were hollow halfway up and formed what appeared to be lanterns, judging by the half molten look of the few metal standers that connected the upper and lower halves of the horn.

The helmet was also different, being sculpted in the shape of a massive snarling skull with two blood-red horns growing upwards from the sides, meeting above the head. Standing besides the armor were a massive greatsword, easily the length of a fully grown man, and a solid metal flail with a three-and-a-half foot handle and a head the size of a human skull. 3-inch spikes covered the head of the flail, and the two-and-a-half foot chain connecting the handle and the head was likewise covered in inch long spikes.

The other suit of armor was very elegant and beautifully made. The deep black was not painted on but came from within the metal itself. The breastplate was very obviously made for a woman as two elegantly flowing metal plates extended from the abdominal part to cover the wearer's breasts. Likewise the shoulders, gauntlets, elbows and knees were all made with flowing shapes allowing for supple movements.

No spikes or horns decorated this armor, but the helmet was shaped like a bird's head with a sharp beak extending over the forehead to shade the eyes when looking towards the sun. engravings of feathers covered every surface of the armor, filled in with blood-red metal. The gauntlets had very sharp claws at the tip of each finger apart from the first 3 on the right, which had claws, but they could be folded over to allow easier use of a bow.

The weapons were also displayed besides the armor and consisted of two long knives, each a foot-and-a-half in length, and a glaive, not unlike the ones Aurora had made, but made entirely of metal. The blade was 2-and-a-half foot long, pitch-black with a red spine and small red veins running along the blade towards the edge. The handle was 6 foot long, separated in one-foot long pieces and engraved with blood-red feathers.

The main weapon though was a bow, it was of a kind no one in Essos, or Westeros had ever seen before. It was a compound bow made out of a single piece of Dragonforged steel, black, with red veins running all over it. It was 5 feet in overall length, but the curve of the limbs shortened it with 6 inches on both ends. The limbs were split about a-foot-and-a-half from both ends and metal pulleys were fixed to the ends between both parts of the limbs.

A double quiver with 50 arrows stood besides the bow and when Gabrielle pulled out one of the arrows to inspect it, she saw it was made of ironwood. The arrow was 3 foot in length, had a dragonbone nock, Dragonforged steel bodkin point and red-feathered fletching.

Looking up from the two sets, both Ladies looked back at Allazar and after replacing the arrow, Gabrielle said, "What is your price? For the Demon, and both sets?"

With a small grin Allazar replied, "150.000 golden honors."

Sharing a long look with her wife, Gabrielle finally turned back to Allazar and said, "Deal, will you accept gemstones as substitutes for gold, we don't have that amount in honors with us."

Allazar nodded and replied, "What kind of gems do you have?" They spend a few minutes haggling about the worth of a stone but they settled on 500 rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, and three dozen diamonds, in addition to three-quarters of the gold they had brought.

Upon completing the deal, Allazar clapped his hands and the servant in the white tokar reappeared from the hallway. "Get the Demon and tell him to wait in the training yard for his new masters." The servant bowed and moved off as fast as his garment allowed him to go.

Aurora turned to Valaya and said, "Get the others up here, we're going to need some help with moving the pieces of armor, they look rather heavy." Valaya saluted and moved off quickly, easily overtaking the servant.

It took them half an hour to get the armor to the training yard and loaded up on the horses. In that time Ivan was brought up from his private cell, now dressed in a simple linen toga thrown over his right shoulder and reaching to his knees. He wore large steel manacles joint by heavy chains on both wrists and ankles.

Aurora and Gabrielle stood on one side with the saddle bags filled with gold and other valuables, while Master Allazar and Ivan stood on the other side. The trade went smoothly and once Allazar's servants had taken the gold, he indicated for Ivan to walk over to his 'new masters'.

"It is done," Allazar stated officially, "The Demon is now your property."

"Good," Aurora replied smiling, "Then I wish you much fortune in your coming days. We shall be going now, as we have ways to go yet before we reach our destination."

Allazar bowed slightly in goodbye and Aurora and Gabrielle replied in kind before mounting up and leading their company out of the yard and back into the city.

They rode through the city, drawing quite a few curious looks as Ivan walked between their horses. The fact that the 'Demon of Daznak' had apparently been bought, drew large crowds who all wanted to look at the legendary fighter for one last time.

It took them nearly two hours to ride through the city and reach the same gates through which they had entered the city. The captain who had given them the directions towards Daznak's pit was still on his post and upon seeing them he said, "I can see your search was successful."

"It was indeed," Gabrielle nodded before tossing the man a silver and riding on towards the hills they had come from. For once it was great to have a plan go smoothly and without bloodshed.

As soon as they were out of sight of the city, Ivan stretched his neck, snapped the chains holding him as if they were made of wet grass and said, "I got to say Ladies, it took you bloody long enough to get here."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle burst out laughing while Francine threw of her helmet and jumped out of her saddle, right into Ivan's arms who pressed a passionate kiss on her lips. "I've missed you so much Ivy." Francine cried with tears running over her cheeks.

"I missed you to Sinny," Ivan replied softly before kissing away her tears. "Did they hurt you?"

"They can't anymore," Francine said softly before kissing him again. "now come, let's get you properly dressed my love."

"And you as well sweetheart."

Francine grinned and nodded.

Fifteen minutes later both were finally again clad in the same way as when they arrived. Ivan swung the greatsword around in his left hand while doing the same with the flail in his right. To their surprise, Ivan had showed them that the chain could be retracted into the handle, turning the flail into a mace. Also the spikes could be retracted to allow for safe storage and carrying. The greatsword went into a scabbard attached to his back, while the flail hung from a ring on his right hip.

Francine likewise was putting on the double quiver, allowing her to draw the arrows over her right shoulder. The quiver also had a sheath attached to it to hold the bow. Speaking of the bow, after giving it a few stretching's to test the string, she squeezed a hidden lever on the handle and a pair of blades shot out between the two parts of each limb. The blades were a foot-and-a-half long and razor-sharp.

Putting the bow into the sheath, she grabbed the glaive and gave it a few swings before twisting a hidden mechanism. The shaft shot into itself leaving a handle a foot in length. After swinging it around a few more times, she sheathed it into the holster over her left shoulder. The two knives went into sheaths of their own, which ran upside-down from the ones holding the glaive and her bow, allowing her to draw the knives from her hips.

When they looked around them again, they saw that Aurora and Gabrielle had likewise put their armor back on and with a small grin, Gabrielle snapped her fingers, causing blue flames to spew from the lanterns on Ivan's shoulders, giving him a demonic appearance in the quickly deepening twilight.

Turning back to the city, the four super-human warriors looked out over Slaver's Bay, vowing that when next they would see it, they would burn it to the ground.

Author's note:

And there we have it, the crew is finally complete now that Ivan has joined them. Those of you who are also following my Harry Potter story will probably recognize him, though he is a bit bigger here. The reason for this is that during one of their past adventures, (the story of which is already in my head just waiting, for the current two stories to be finished, to be written down), he and Francine were turned into genetically enhanced super-humans.

In Ivan's case this means that he is now comparable in size, strength, and abilities to a Space Marine from Warhammer 40K, his armor though is inspired by those worn by the Warhammer Fantasy Chaos champions seen in the game; Total War Warhammer.

Francine also comes from my Harry Potter story, in which she is a Veela, this explains her exceptional beauty. She is more or less my version of Tauriel from the, The Hobbit movies. Meaning that she is faster and stronger than any human, and also has far greater developed senses (eyesight, smell, hearing) than any 'normal' human. Her skills with knives and glaive are almost unsurpassed, and with the bow she has no equal in Westeros or Essos.

If there are any question concerning either of these two characters, or about any other subject concerning the story, please send me a review or a PM and I will do my utmost best to answer them without spoilering the story to much.

Till next time,

Medieval Maniak.


	30. Chapter 30

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 30

Aurora and Gabrielle had decided to fly straight to Valyria from Mereen, but they also needed to get word to Argyll about their progress and to update him about their scheduled arrival. So, they decided to split up. Valaya and 23 others, exactly as many as the horses they had, were given a letter for Argyll, to make it clear for him that they came on orders of Aurora and Gabrielle. Giving them the gold and most of the provisions they had left, they sent them on their way before turning into their dragon forms and having the remainder of their companions mount up.

They flew all through the night and shortly after dawn, they reached the edges of the impassable storms that surrounded all of the peninsula. Now that they were once again near the fallen empire, their incredible eyesight allowed them to pierce the fog of the storm and see the jagged shore surrounding the peninsula.

If they were to truly settle in these lands, then they would need to find a way through those storms, preferably without stopping them altogether as they would be an immense protection against anyone who tried to assault the coast. No army could possibly pass the mountain range and no fleet could cross the storms, but from the height they were flying, they could see that the storms only extended to maybe a mile inland. Beyond that, the skies were clear blue, and they could see wide green plains and silver rivers crossing the lands.

From the Southern tips to the Mountains in the North, the peninsula easily covered more than a thousand miles. From East to West it went from 300 miles at the Mountain range in the north, to almost 600 in the middle. Massive rivers spread throughout the land, probably some of them connected the various cities with each other.

A single gigantic river, easily 5 miles wide, drove a 150-mile wedge from the southern edge, straight up into the peninsula leading almost to the edges of a range of oddly shaped hills laying very far off in the distance. The only reason they could even see it from where they were, the North-Eastern edge, was that some of the hills must have reached nearly two thousand feet into the sky.

A large range of impassible mountains, 300 miles wide, separated the peninsula from the mainland of Essos. 20,000 feet below them, was the island city of Elyria, another hurdle they would have to take out to ensure the safety of their new kingdom. It was very tempting to just drop down from the skies and burn the city to a crisp, but they had differing plans for the island. It had the perfect location to become a fortress for guarding their north-eastern flank, and a gathering ground for escaped slaves and other people from the East who wanted to join them.

But that was a plan for another day, first they would have to find a way through the storms. They themselves could of course fly over the storms, but their fleet could not, nor could the 180,000 settlers those ships were carrying.

" _What do you think love?"_ Aurora asked mentally as she and her wife where studying the storm.

" _Not sure, but I would bet my axe on it that it isn't natural. It has to be a magical storm, otherwise it would never have lasted for this long."_

" _Indeed, that was my thought as well. So, what do we do about it?"_

" _We have about 5 weeks before the fleet gets here, so I suggest we find the city of Valyria and search for anything that could explain the nature of these storms."_

" _That would indeed be best I think, judging from the map we found in the vault at Dragonstone, it should be around those odd hills in the distance, so I suggest we start looking over there."_

" _Good idea, let's go then."_

The two massive dragons turned to the south, and climbing to a height of 30,000 feet, where the temperature was freezing, and the air was hard to breath for their human passengers, they flew over the massive thunderstorm and crossed into the legendary country.

As they flew over the storm, all four of the non-humans could clearly feel the magic streaming through the storm below them, and they were even more convinced that it was not a natural occurrence. Over the next 2 hours they flew southwards, studying the lands below them as they went.

The land they saw beneath them could only be described as an untamed paradise. Having seen no living human in the past 400 years, nature has had free range to reclaim the land. Vast forests covered the land, interspersed by wide green plains. Massive herds of deer, wild horses, and various other animals inhabited the untamed wilderness beneath them. They saw ancient roads, overgrown but still connecting the ruined cities.

Speaking of the cities, from what they could see from their altitude, they appeared to be remarkably intact.

As they flew over Oros and Tyria, they could see the buildings still standing and the encroach of nature seemed to be stopped at the cities walls. Within the cities, not a single trace of life could be seen, but neither where there any clear signs of decay. It was as if everyone had just vanished without a trace.

As they kept flying towards the oddly shaped hills, they soon took the shape of spires, until they realized just what it was they were flying towards. The spires where not formations of rock, but of stone, and they were made by human hands. What they were flying towards, was a city, the largest city any of them had ever seen in this world. It was shaped as an oval, built upon a series of hills, with the buildings upon it stretching into the sky for nearly a thousand feet.

At the bottom of the hill closest to the water, a massive harbor was laid out across the water front and extended several hundred feet into the river, offering places for hundreds upon hundreds of ships. A wide road, made of smooth black stone led from the harbor to the city walls and entered it through a high gatehouse, with gates fifty feet high and eighty feet wide.

The Great Pyramid of Mereen would have stood in the shadow of several of the towers they could see, and the entire city of King's Landing would have fit within its walls several times. The walls of the city were made of the same black stone as Dragonstone and surrounded the hills entirely, rising to a height of two-hundred feet.

"Now that's what I call impressive." Ivan remarked softly. "For a medieval society, they sure know how to build a city."

"Indeed," Francine added, studying the city with her exceptional eyes, which were nearly as far-seeing as those of Aurora and Gabrielle. "I cannot see any signs of life, but if I am not mistaken, then there is smoke coming from that fortress near the water's edge."

Aurora and Gabrielle turned their eyes toward the place she had indicated and indeed, there was a small cloud of black smoke coming from a chimney on the roof of an immense fortress. It was obviously part of the defenses of the city, as the walls on one side formed part of the outer city-walls.

Even from this distance they could see artillery pieces placed on the towers, though they looked to be in a state of near decay. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that most of the wooden structures on the walls were only fit for kindling, though the walls themselves were sound.

It stood on one of the largest hills with two more close besides it, overlooking the harbor and from the looks of it, was able to house thousands and thousands of soldiers. The city around it spread out for miles upon miles, with large palaces, open squares, gardens, and canals. The most remarkable thing were the canals, as some of them did not hold water, but burning magma flew through them. They appeared to originate from one of the hills in the middle of the city, no doubt coming from somewhere far below the surface. The canals crossed beneath the walls and ran all around them before heading back into the city and towards the hill from which they originated.

Through the use of some ancient magic, the magma did not seem to spread beyond the canals, did not solidify, nor did its heat appeared to affect anything around them. It just kept flowing in a never-ending cycle.

Flying closer to the ground, Aurora and Gabrielle flew over the city to offer their passengers a better view, and now they could see signs of life, or rather, signs of death. The streets were littered with skeletons of humans, horses, dogs, and many other animals. The immense carcasses of dragons of every size could be seen lying around the city, as pristine as the day they died. From their positions, they deducted that they had died in the sky, and fallen down upon the city, smashing into buildings, and squares alike.

No smell hung in the city, no scent of death could be detected upon the wind, but the silence was unnerving them. Not a sound could be heard in the city, not a single sign of life, besides the smoke coming from the fortress.

Quickly circling down towards the fortress, Aurora and Gabrielle landed in the immense courtyard, where their passengers dismounted before they changed back to human form. After they had stored their saddles, they looked around themselves and took in the majesty of the fortress surrounding them.

The walls, floors and everything around them was made of the same black stone, no seems were visible anywhere and it would appear as if the stone was molten and then poured into shape. Along the gates in the courtyard and upon the walls, lay the skeletons of the soldiers that had once stood guard there. Their suits of armor where all identical, painted entirely black, and superbly made.

Aurora approached one of the armored skeletons and began to undress it, to find out what the armor was made of. The outer layer was a full-body suit of solid plate, forged from the 'normal' Valyrian Steel they had found on the Dragon Rider from the canals of Braavos. It had a breastplate with a high collar to protect the neck, loose shoulder pieces going down to halfway the upper arms. Grieves and vambraces covered the lower arms and legs, with heavy, nail-studded boots protecting the feet and plate gauntlets protecting the arms.

Underneath that were suits of leather backed mail reaching to the elbows and halfway down the knees. Full helmets with 2 small stylized horns covered the skulls, with small eye-slits for the eyes. Underneath the helmets were mail coifs and padded arming caps.

Halberds, spears and swords lay next to the skeletons and shields were at their feet. The weapons were made of the same material as the armors, while the shields were round, a foot-and-a-half in diameter. Made of oak, they were covered with hardened leather and painted in various colors, the shields were enveloped by a ring of metal to reinforce it.

Upon further study, Aurora saw that lines of runes were inscribed upon the various pieces of plate armor, though their purpose escaped her for the moment. The weapons and shields where likewise decorated by runes, with an equally unknown purpose.

Having completed her inspection, Aurora looked around to her companions and said, "This is excellent armor, it's no match to our Dragonforged plate, but compared to anything found on this world, it's greatly superior. The weapons too are exquisite quality, though obviously made by mass-production, as they lack the decorations and other embellishments we have found on the Valyrian Steel swords we have seen so far. They have been made for efficiency, not for looks. But for now, we have other matters to attend to."

She looked around and saw that the smoke was coming from the central keep, so that was where they would be heading to. They entered the keep through a large double gate, noticing that the bodies of the guards that had been stationed there had been moved. The skeletons had been stripped of weapons and armor, and piled in a heap next to the wall. Aurora drew her short sword and Gabrielle did likewise, while the others grabbed their close-combat weapons as well.

Moving carefully into the fortress, they were on guard, as the further they moved in, the more signs of recent habitation they could find. Dust had been cleared from tables, rooms had been searched and pillaged, here and there large drag marks in the dust showed where crates had been moved.

They followed the trails in the dust and went deeper and deeper into the fortress. Eventually they reached a point that had to be on the other side of the keep, and they stood before a large circular stairwell going up. Carefully they ascended the stairs, cautious of traps as having reached the stairs, they could see tracks in the dust. Most were of heavy boots, but there were those of animals as well.

Oddly enough, the animal prints stayed on either side of the boot prints, and did not intermingle with them. From the looks of it, they had travelled up and down the stairs hundreds of times or once in great numbers, though Gabrielle did not think the latter held true.

The stairs went up, passing more than a dozen landings, before the prints left them. About halfway up, they began hearing a sound as if someone was pounding on an anvil. The farther up they went, the louder the sounds became until they could hear a different sound mixed in with the banging of steel on steel. Someone was whistling a tune.

When the four semi-immortals heard the tune, they were shocked into a standstill. They knew that tune, they had heard it before. But not on this world. The first time they had heard it, was in the forges of Avalon, on the world they had been born on. And there was only one person they knew who whistled that particular tune.

"Boltrock," they all whispered as one, to the confusion of their six human companions.

They followed the sound through a hallway until they came into a large room, with one side open to the elements. A forge was erected in the room, with large bellows, anvils, and a collection of hammers and tongs every blacksmith in the world would envy.

In one corner of the room, a large nest was made of straw and rags, though the occupants were not to be seen. When they looked at the anvil, they saw a remarkable sight. A low bench was placed between the fire and the anvil, and upon that bench, hammering away at the anvil, was a short, bald, and extremely muscular figure.

He rose to maybe 4 feet, with thick arms covered with course black hair and a bare chest covered by a leather apron. Sparks flew throughout the room as the figure swung away with a heavy, short-handled hammer, whistling away as he worked.

"Boltrock," Aurora asked carefully, and the figure immediately stopped his swinging. With the absence of the ringing, they could now hear another sound, coming from directly behind them. A soft growling noise. Upon turning around, they saw something they would not soon forget.

Two large Hyena's stood behind them having come from a spot in the shadow of the doors. Both had a shoulder height of three-and-a-half feet, and must have weight at least 350 pounds each. Most unsettling though, were their bared teeth. Instead of the expected ivory white, the dark grey of Valyrian Steel reflected the light of the forge fire. Someone had pulled the hyena's teeth and replaced them with Valyrian Steel ones.

"DOWN GIRLS. HEEL." A low harsh voice yelled from the anvil. The hyenas immediately covered their teeth and circled around the ten visitors until they stood beside the figure at the anvil.

A short but thick black beard covered his chin and his black eyes stood suspicious. His right hand still held the hammer, while his left was grasped around the red-hot beginnings of a sword.

"Who the fuck are you and how do you know my name? SHOW YOURSELVES." Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan and Francine removed their respective helmets and showed their faces to the short man.

Giving a 'humpf'-like sound, the figure gave them a toothy grin and said, "You four took your damn time showing up. I've been here for three fucking months, all by myself, until I met Daisy and Buttercup that is."

"Good to see you as well Boltrock," Gabrielle said dryly, ignoring the fact that he had named the two-monstrous hyena's after wildflowers. "Nice to hear that you have missed us to."

"Yea, yea, I've been so lonely and I'm so very happy to see you again." Boltrock drawled out, but they could hear that he was indeed glad to see them.

"You have a nice setup here, made it yourself?" Ivan asked as he looked around the room.

"Nah it was here already when I found this place. I landed on the plains north of here, and wandered around for a few days until I came upon these two." He indicated the pair of hyenas besides him. "They initially tried to attack me, until I showed them who's boss, and they decided to follow me instead. They have been very useful, hunting and bringing me meat while I surveyed this city. I have found some truly remarkable things in here, you'd be amazed what these guys were capable of before they wiped themselves out."

"Wait, _wiped themselves out_?" Aurora asked questioningly, "How do you mean, did they do this themselves?"

"Well from what I could understand from the books and records I found, there were these morons called 'Bloodmages'. Apparently, they tried to create an impassable barrier to protect them from a cloud of volcanic gasses and ashes that came towards them from the volcanoes in the mountain range that separates this peninsula from the mainland. That spell backfired on them and created the storms we now see around the land. It did not stop the poisonous clouds from reaching them, but it did stop them from fleeing from them.

Those with dragons tried to fly away but the dragons themselves suffocated in the volcanic gasses and they came crashing down from the sky. Those who tried to flee by ship where smashed apart by the storms, or broken upon the cliffs. The Bloodmages themselves appear to have all died when the spell failed. So, they had no way of breaking the magic."

"Have you found a way to break the spell?" Francine asked him curiously.

Giving her an incredulous look Boltrock replied, "Do I look like a fucking wizard to you? When in the 3,500 years you four have known me have I ever been able to use a single bloody spell?"

Francine blushed as she underwent the vocal barrage before she replied, "I know that, but I thought maybe you may have read something in those books and records you mentioned."

"Hmmpf," he scoffed before pointing to a bookcase standing against the back wall. "Second shelf from the top, 9th book from the right, page 186."

Francine immediately hurried to the wall and removed the book he had indicated. Opening it to the relevant page she quickly began to read while the others brought Boltrock up to speed about what they had been up to so far.

Reading back a few pages, as what she read made little sense, Francine studied the text minutely until she found what she was looking for. "What a bunch fucking idiots." She gasped as she finally understood what was written.

"What's wrong?" Ivan asked a little concerned as he marched over to his wife.

"Listen to this," Francine replied. Before starting to read a passage.

" _The storm screen we have erected is successful in keeping all invaders out while we focus on taking care of the volcanic eruptions. In all seven cities on our great peninsula, our Bloodmages are prepared to enact the ritual to purify the air around us, sucking out all toxics that might endanger our lives._

 _All human beings both Valyrians and our allies, as well as the dragons, animals and slaves, have been gathered in the cities as we do not know what will happen in the rest of the land. Tomorrow will be the moment that decides whether we_ _live_ _, or if we will die by this wrath of nature._

 _In any case, the magic of the storms will protect us for as long as necessary, for as long as the Dragonblood lives, his magic will keep it up."_

"Those idiots practically committed mass suicide. By purifying the air, they removed everything, including the oxygen every living thing needs to stay alive. It's just that last part that bothers me. " _for as long as the Dragonblood lives, his magic will keep it up_." It makes no sense, but it almost looks like they have bound the spells holding those storms to a living, breathing, dragon."

"You're right, that doesn't make any sense." Gabrielle said.

"Actually, maybe it does…" Boltrock interceded their pondering.

"What do you mean?" Aurora asked a little confused.

"Follow me," was his only reply. "I have something that you need to see." He whistled to his two 'pets', and they immediately flanked him as he led them out of the room and down the stairs.

He ignored all of their questions as they followed him down the stairs and finally led them in silence towards a large smooth wall, decorated with a fresco of a fire-breathing dragon. He stood on his toes and poked the handle of his hammer into the sole visible eye of the dragon. It was pushed into the wall and they could hear a 'CLICK', before the wall as a whole slid open, revealing a staircase, 4 yards wide, leading downwards, deep into the hill beneath them.

He led them down the stairs and the deeper they got, they began to hear sounds, sounds that they had not expected to hear in this time and in this place. The sounds of industry, of machinery clanking in an endless repetitive rhythm. Light came from below them, growing brighter and brighter as they went.

When they finally came to the bottom of the stairs, they saw a sight they would have held as impossible. The hill they had been standing on was hollowed out, creating a columned cavern stretching for over three quarters of a mile. The magma streams they had seen above ground flowed through one side of the cavern, providing heat for immense smelters and forges.

A subterranean river used to power water-powered presses and mechanical hammers flowed through the cavern, creating an endless clanking rhythm. Troughs filled with quenching oil, fueled by a large basin, stood next to endless rows of anvils. An assortment of tools, which shamed even the impressive collection Boltrock had assembled upstairs, hung in neat rows on moveable carts that were placed opposite the rows of anvils.

They had found them, the legendary forges of Valyria, the birthplace of Valyrian Steel, and the place they would use to equip an army this world had never seen before.

The six female guards they had brought stared in amazement at what they were seeing, never in their wildest dreams had they ever imagined something like this could exist.

"Yes, I know, "Boltrock said with a gleam in his eyes. "Impressive isn't it?"

"Uh huh," was all they could manage as a reply.

"When I came here at first everything was silent, as the presses and hammers can be disconnected from the water-wheels powering them, but I spent the better part of 6 weeks getting everything back to working order, so now I'm running it all to see if any problems do occur.

But as great an asset as these forges are, they are not what I brought you here to see. That is." He pointed to a truly massive pair of doors in the distance, on the other side of the cavern. Each door stood 20 yards high, and 10 yards wide. Made of oak and steel, they had withstood the ravages of time and locked something that they were not sure they would want to find out what it was.

Boltrock led them through the cavern, and they noticed that the air inside the cavern was cool and fresh, not the stifling heat one would expect from such a place. When they asked about it, Boltrock pointed to the walls and said, "You see those grates in the walls, they are used to pump fresh cool air into the cavern and suck away the heat and smoke.

When it comes to feats of engineering, architecture and building, these Valyrians truly where centuries ahead of anyone else I have ever seen from this era. They managed to create a way to suck the air from the surface, cool it down, and then pump it into this cavern."

It took them nearly ten minutes to cross the cavern, during which they saw two more pairs of doors, one on the left, and one on the right, though these were a quarter smaller than the ones they were heading for.

Once they stood before the doors, Boltrock pointed to a series of glyphs and upon further study, both Aurora and Gabrielle recognized the wording as High Valyrian. Gabrielle read out loud, " _Beyond this door lies the key to our security. Enter only on your own peril."_

"Well, that sound inviting." Ivan scoffed as he studied the massive doors. "So how do we get in?"

"Huh hum," Boltrock cleared his throat and once he had their attention, he pointed towards a lever located on the right side of the doors.

Aurora grabbed her battleaxe from its holster on her back and replaced her helmet, an action mirrored by the others, all of whom donned their helmets and readied their weapons.

When they were ready, Aurora nodded to Boltrock who then pulled the lever. A sound of running gears and chains was heard before the doors groaned under their weight as they were slowly pulled open.

A darkness welcomed them and the air smelled stale, moldy, and they even smelled the distinct metallic scent of blood. When the doors were fully opened, and ground to a halt, a spark was seen, and suddenly large braziers were lit.

It revealed a long hallway, as big as the doors and maybe 300 yards long. At the other end, a second pair of massive doors stood, though these were opened. As they followed the hallway, they entered a second blackness. Which was only lit when Boltrock pulled a second lever on the left side of the hallway. Suddenly large rectangles of daylight appeared above them and they found themselves in another cavern, only half the size of the last, but this one held something far more sinister.

All along the walls, and between the massive pillars holding up the ceiling, lay the torn and broken skeletons of dragons. Dozens, maybe as many as 50, ranging in size from a horse, to as big as a ship. The biggest, which was also the only one that was more than a broken heap of bones, lay in the center. It was a dull golden color, it's scales may once have shone with light, but now they were dulled.

And it was still alive.

To their amazement Aurora and Gabrielle could feel the dragon's life-force, dim as it was. The dragon's 100-foot body was emaciated. Wounds and scars covered it's body and it's golden eyes stared at them with barely a spark of life in them.

The most unbelievable thing was that this, they immediately realized upon seeing it, was not a crossbreed, but a true dragon, judging by its four legs. The only reason it had survived for so long, was that it had devoured the corpses of its lesser kindred, and the inherent near immortality of true dragons.

"What kind of monsters have done this?" Aurora gasped as she and Gabrielle rushed to the dragon's side. When their guards wanted to follow them, they were stopped by Ivan and Francine who yelled them back.

"STAY HERE," Ivan roared, silencing the warrior maidens' objections. "Let them go alone. That is a _True_ dragon, even in this state it will crush you like mere insects if you approach."

This effectively shut their complaints and they watched as Aurora and Gabrielle approached the dragon. It looked at them and with its last strength raised its head in a weak bow, knowing them instantly for what they were. Changing into their true forms, Aurora and Gabrielle approached the still magnificent creature and wrapped their much larger bodies around it.

Opening their minds to the dragon they felt it was male and Aurora said gently, " _Have no fear brother, for your suffering is over."_

Suddenly all within the cavern felt the air start to spark as an almost incomprehensible amount of magical power was brought to bear by Aurora and Gabrielle. In their rage at the Valyrians and sorrow over what they had done to one of their own kind, their true nature was starting to break out."

"Oh shit," Ivan, Francine and Boltrock muttered as one before dragging the others with them as they rushed back into the hallway, closing the doors after them.

Within the cavern the magic Aurora and Gabrielle unintentionally summoned was poured into the body of the dragon laying between them. Slowly the dragon's inner flame was kindled, and brought back to life until it burned with an intensity that, if unleashed, would burn cities to the ground.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the energy Aurora and Gabrielle poured into the dragon began to do its work, healing his injuries and scars, growing his muscles to what they were supposed to be, and restoring his body to full health. It took them hours, but by the time when night had arrived, their titanic job was done, leaving all three dragons exhausted, and going into a self-induced coma to recover.

Outside the cavern, Ivan, Francine, Boltrock and the others had moved back to the forges and up to the surface, knowing that it would be a while until the ladies would surface again.

XXX

For the next few days, they occupied themselves with disposing of the skeletons occupying the fortress, and gathering everything that could be of use to them. The six Warrior maidens were send out with Daisy and Buttercup to scout out the countryside and get some food, as with what they brought, they didn't have enough to feed eleven people for up to two months.

In the end it took three and a half days for Aurora, Gabrielle and the dragon to wake up from their self-induced coma. A roar echoed throughout the caverns and up to the surface where the others could hear it.

Francine, Ivan and Boltrock immediately rushed towards the cavern and opened the doors to find Aurora, Gabrielle and the as of yet unnamed dragon. As they appeared in the door, the dragon looked up and snarled at them.

" _Calm brother,"_ Gabrielle said as she placed her right front paw on the dragon's back to keep him from attacking them. " _They are friends, they would never harm you."_

As the dragon calmed down from her words, both ladies changed back to human form and Aurora said, "Allow me to introduce, Vermithrax, _The Golden Storm_."

Turning to the dragon she added, "Vermithrax, allow me to introduce you to our friends, Ivan, Francine and Boltrock." All three made a deep bow to the golden dragon, while he in turn blinked once before giving them the most miniscule of nods imaginable.

"How… how come it… ehhr that would be, how did _you_ come to be here Vermithrax?" Francine asked full of awe at seeing the dragon now in perfect health again. Now that they could finally get a good look at him, they saw that the golden dragon was about a third of the size of Aurora and Gabrielle, meaning that he was a lot younger than them. It might have been presumptuous of them, but they thought it was pretty safe to say that he was the youngest of those currently in the cavern.

Being unable to talk as Aurora and Gabrielle could, Vermithrax instead brushed his mind against those of the others and he showed them a range of memories. They started from when he was but a hatchling, a mere 3 days out of his egg. They saw as the Valyrian Bloodmages brought him to the cavern, and bound him to it with sacrificial bloodmagic. They bound the storms around the island to him, so that as long as he lived, the storms would be active, and through him, controllable.

Next, they watched as dozens of other dragons where brought into the cavern, as it was hoped that they would be protected from the poisonous clouds that approached the city, if the ritual would fail. During the next memory they saw the moment that the spell was brought into effect, as suddenly all humans that remained in the cavern, got problems breathing until they soon fell down and stopped moving.

The half-bloods in the cavern had also trouble breathing, but since they could also fly at low-oxygen altitudes, they were able to survive the event. After all the humans had suffocated and died, their bodies where soon devoured by the dragons when their hunger became too great.

After enough time had passed, the half-bloods eventually turned on each other in their hunger, teaming up to tear apart the weaker ones, until only the strongest survived. Vermithrax, being a true dragon was, despite being brought in as a hatchling, soon the largest and strongest of all, and soon after that, the last one left alive.

As he withdrew from their minds, they could all feel the lingering resentment he held towards the Valyrians for locking him in this place. Gabrielle was the first to speak afterwards and she said, "Vermithrax has agreed to keep the storms in place for us and to let through only those bearing either our sigil, or the Titan of Braavos on their sails. As is his right, he asked us to clear a path to the surface for him, so what we will do is find a way to enlarge one of those sky-lights for him to use as an exit."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Boltrock mused as he looked skywards, "They look to be just hatches that are slid open. I'll have to take a look at them from the surface, but it should not be a problem."

They looked pleased at this until Boltrock added with a grin, "However, since he I not that big yet compared to you two, he can also use the exit that leads from the forges to the surface."

Four human and one dragon scowl looked at him when he finished so he shrugged and said, "Hey, you didn't ask, and I have not had the time to show you yet. So, follow me and I'll show you where those other two doors lead to."

Softly shaking her head, Gabrielle led the others as they followed after Boltrock. Vermithrax was easily able to leave his prison and follow them, as the sheer size of the doors would almost have allowed Aurora and Gabrielle through.

When they got back to the forges, Vermithrax had to be a little careful not to destroy anything with his tail, or to step onto something. Boltrock noticed the danger and quickly led them over to the, from their side, door on the right.

Once they reached them, he pulled a handle similar to those used to open the bigger doors, and they swung inwards, revealing a ramp that led slowly upwards. The fact that they were in a hollowed-out hill, made the difference in elevation smaller, so the doors leading outside, were only 40 feet above them. Having to cross the outer shell of the hill though, meant that the hall was easily 150 yards long.

"The outer doors require two people to open," Boltrock said to the others, "So if one of you can grab the lever on the other side." Ivan immediately marched over to the other side and when Boltrock said so, they pulled both levers at the same time, causing the outer doors to slide open sideways, revealing the clear blue sky outside.

Staring up at the golden dragon, Aurora said, "Go fly, my friend, you have been locked up long enough. We will see you when you return." Not wasting any more time, Vermithrax rushed out of the forges and towards the open sky ahead."

When the great golden dragon had reached the outside and flown away, the group turned back to Boltrock and Francine asked playfully, "So, what's behind door number three?"

Chuckling softly Boltrock replied, "Wouldn't you like to know. Come, I'll show you." Leading them across the forges, Boltrock kept refusing to answer their questions as he whistled a merry tune and his short legs marched briskly to the other side of the cavern.

Once they reached the doors, they were able to see that they were much more richly decorated than the others had been. They were carrying detailed carvings of marching armies and gilded images of great warriors. Slowly the realization began to dawn on them as they guessed what was on the other side of the doors.

As he pulled the lever to open the doors, Boltrock pronounced proudly, "When those Valyrian fuckers killed themselves, the greatest majority of their armies where at home. So, guess where all of their military gear was stored when everything went to choke-town."

When the doors were fully opened, it revealed a third hallway, this one leading on for roughly 200 yards before opening up to a third truly massive cavern. They could see lights in the cavern so, being nearly consumed by their anticipation, Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan, and Francine rushed ahead, leaving Boltrock to follow them on a normal pace, carrying the biggest smile imaginable.

As they reached the cavern, for the third time in less than a week, all four where completely flabbergasted by what they saw. The cavern they stood before, was easily the biggest one they had seen so far. Oddly enough it was rectangular in shape and must have spanned at least 1200 yards wide and 800 yards long.

The size of the cavern was not what had them awed though, it was what was contained within that had them awe struck. 400 clearly defined rows stood in perfect synchronization underneath 40 massive banners that hung from the ceiling. Each banner showed the sigil of, presumably, one of the houses of the Dragonlords of old, as the red three-headed dragon on black of House Targaryen was one of them.

And beneath the banners were rows upon rows, ranks upon ranks, of identical suits of armor. Each hung on an armor stand and was identical to the ones they had found outside the fortress. Every suit carried a tabard displaying the sigil of the House in who's row they stood, probably displaying the allegiance of the wearer. Not all rows where similar in size, the Targaryen line being the smallest stood only 4 wide, though spanning for 250 rows, this meant they still controlled a thousand soldiers.

Before most of the rows of infantry, stood rows upon rows of knight's armor on partially or fully armored wooden horses. Heavy lances stood next to the knights and kite shields hung from the stands with the lances. All along the walls where racks upon racks with swords, axes, spears, bows, javelins, and a wide variety of shields, from small round bucklers, to large tower shields not unlike the Scutum they knew from the Roman Legions back in their first lives.

Ironically the biggest section of soldiers, standing 40 wide, stood beneath a banner which held the same sigil as Aurora and Gabrielle had chosen for House Valaris. They immediately realized that this was something that was meant to be by the Old Gods, to underline their backstory of having lived in Valyria and giving further credence to their claim to power over the peninsula. Written in golden letters beneath the sigil was written in High Valyrian, " _Fear the Dragon's Wrath."_

"Now that's what I call impressive." Francine muttered full of awe, "If I'm not mistaken, there are…" she tried to quickly calculate how many there where until Boltrock interrupted her line of thought.

"There are 100,000 suits of infantry armor, and 25,000 suits of cavalry armor. I don't know how many soldiers you're bringing from Tyrosh, but I'm pretty sure there is enough steel to armor every single one of them.

"As it stands now we have," Aurora replied before going off the list from memory, "14,000 heavy infantry, 18,000 former sellswords, 4,500 Dornish light infantry, 3,000 Unsullied, and 2,000 warrior maidens, who will fight as heavily armored archers/infantry. Add to that we have 18,000 Ironborn raiders, and we have a guy in Astapor working on getting us somewhere around 20,000 more Unsullied."

"Phiewww," Boltrock whistled, impressed at the number, "You have obviously been busy, but how many of those are infantry and how many are cavalry?"

"Almost all infantry," Gabrielle replied immediately, "We didn't have much cavalry to begin with and the sellswords took heavy losses, so I'm guessing…" she shared a quick look with her wife who replied,

"Harry said that what the companies' combined had left of cavalry was around nine-hundred horses and 15 elephants, so we're practically gonne have to build our cavalry up from scratch."

"Hmm," Boltrock scratched his beard as he thought before replying, "Well luckily for you guys, the plains north of here contain large herds of wild horses, so that won't be that much of a problem. The problem will be to retrain and reorganize all of these scattered forces into a single uniform army. How many of them are familiar with our way of war?"

"The 14,000-heavy infantry," Gabrielle replied, "they consist of former pirates, sellswords, slavers, and other scum which we have wiped and 're-programmed'."

"Why'd you stop with them?" Boltrock asked slightly annoyed, "If you ask me you should have 're-programed' them all. Would have been much more effective."

"We are not going to interfere with the free will of innocent people Boltrock," Gabrielle replied coldly. "This might be a feudal world, but we are not going to lower ourselves to the level of the slavers."

"Fine," the dwarf replied, rolling his eyes and sighing in annoyance, "Guess I'll just have to find another way to get them all up to our level. Give me a few weeks and I'll devise a manual to use for training them."

"Thank you," Gabrielle replied, before asking, "By the way, have you discovered how to make Valyrian Steel, as we are sort-of going to need a ton of it in a few winters."

"There is no big secret to it, just melting it to a far higher degree than any of those medieval forges are capable of, and beating out the impurities with repetitive folding, everything to mass-produce it is available in the hall next door.

The only thing I can't reproduce is the spell-forged steel those fuckers were fond of. The magic and the spells to make them have been lost, so we're just going to have to search every single nook and cranny in the seven cities, until we have found all the blades that are left. I have found about two dozen of them so-far, but that's just from 3 city blocks and 1 palace."

"So, the situation is a lot better than we had initially anticipated," Francine summed up their adventures so far.

"It would appear so Sinny," Aurora replied, "Now all we can do is search the city and prepare for the arrival of our friends, as good as we can with only eleven of us."

"Better get starting then," Ivan replied, and they all agreed. They had a lot of work still to do before their fleet arrived.

Author's note:

First of all, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

And there you have it, they have found Valyria and began the first steps of building their empire. I hope you all liked my idea of Valyria, as I've based it on a map I found from before the doom, and a lot of my own imagination.

I know what I said last time about the group being complete, but I simply couldn't resist bringing in Boltrock. I needed someone to oversee the Forges and he fits the bill perfectly. He will be the driving force behind their war machines and responsible for designing and building their weapons, armours, and fleets.

For those who might think that things are a bit too easy for the new Valyrians, just remember, they have a lot of very powerful enemies. And besides, just because they have the armoury to fight them, getting the men, they need to do so effectively is a different story, as besides the Forlorn and the Unsullied, very few of the men they have will reach the requirements they have for discipline and skill.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think of it, I love reviews.

Till next time,

Medieval Maniak


	31. Chapter 31

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 31

BANG BANG BANG "MY LORD!" Argyll shot up from his bed as he heard the voice of a Forlorn and the banging on his door. Quickly rising from the covers, he put on a silk bed robe before opening the door of his cabin.

Standing before him was one of his guards who saluted him and spoke on the familiar emotionless tone, "My lord, a group of warrior women have arrived at the docks and are requesting an audience, they claim to have been send by the Ladies Valaris."

This succeeded in waking him up and he said, "Wake the guard and have them stand by. Do not attack unless they do, I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Yes, my Lord," the Forlorn replied with a bow before he turned around and hurried away to follow his orders. Argyll closed the door again and quickly started to get dressed. He pulled on leather breeches, a padded undershirt and a steel breastplate, covering the whole with a tabard showing the sigil of House Valaris.

As he grabbed his sword belt, there came a knock on the door and shortly after, Missandei opened the door. She was dressed in the silk sleep gown Argyll had bought for her and practically ordered her to wear to bed, despite her protests that it was not allowed for slaves to be dressed in silks. He had said that as long as she only wore it to bed, no one would find out about it.

"What is happening?" she asked while wringing the sleep from her eyes. "I heard someone banging on the door."

Tying his sword belt around his waist, Argyll looked at her with a soft smile and said, "Nothing troubling, please go back to bed."

"If nothing is wrong, then why are you wearing your sword and a breast plate?" The almost accusing look in her eyes told him she didn't believe him one bit.

"Fine," he sighed. "We have visitors and I don't know if they're friendly or not. They claim to have been sent by my superiors, but until I'm sure of that, I would prefer to keep you out of sight."

Missandei nodded and turned around back to her cabin, which was located directly next to his own. "I'll go back go bed then, goodnight Argyll."

"Goodnight Missandei," Argyll replied, waiting for her to close the door behind her before he walked up the stairs to the deck. He was met by a group of 60 Forlorn, all in armor and with drawn weapons while a few lanterns lighted the deck and part of the gangway.

On the wooden docks below them he could see a sizeable group of women and horses. Three of the women stood on the gangplank, with the middle one slightly in front of the other two. As soon as Argyll stepped forward and into the light of the lanterns, all three approached him and they made a small bow before the middle one offered him a scroll.

"Apologies for the hour my Lord, but we reached the city after the gates were closed and the city guard proved hesitant in letting us in." Argyll accepted the scroll and studied the seal that held it closed. The black wax was unbroken, and the inlaid golden wax was pristine in displaying the seal of House Valaris, convincing him it was indeed send by the Ladies. Breaking the seal, he unrolled the scroll and started to read.

 _To his Excellency Sir Argyll,_

 _Lord General in service of House Valaris._

 _Hello Argyll, we sincerely hope that everything is going as planned in Astapor and that there are no problems in acquiring the number of Unsullied we have requested. Please be advised that our arrival has been slightly delayed by some unforeseen events._

 _You may inform the Good Masters of Astapor that they can expect our arrival seven weeks after the arrival of this letter. Please inform yourself about the exact number of Unsullied the Good Masters expect to have raised by that time, so we can bring sufficient funds. Please pass the word of their reply to our envoy, who has handed you this letter. She has a way to reach us in time._

 _Besides the timespan, all preparations on our end go exactly as planned and we except to arrive with a proper entourage._

 _With regards,_

 _Ladies Aurora and Gabrielle_

 _House Valaris_

Having finished reading the scroll, Argyll re-rolled it and placed it in the leather tube he was handed by one of the Forlorn. Turning to the envoys he said, "It is good to hear that everything goes as planned, what is your name if I might ask?"

"My name is Valaya, my Lord. Is there a place you know of where we can house our horses for the night?"

Argyll nodded and replied, "It is good to meet you, you probably already know but my name is Argyll Rivers. But to answer your question, yes there is. I have rented a stable near the docks to house a few animals I have acquired since my arrival here. Please, follow me."

Valaya nodded and walked back down the plank.

Turning to the Forlorn he ordered, "Thirty men with me, the rest of you stay here until we return." The Forlorn saluted as one and three squads stepped forward in formation to follow him. He walked down the gangplank and once on the wide wooden dock, he turned right in the direction of the harbor master's office.

Once they left the wooden planks of the docks and stepped on the sand road of the city, Argyll turned left and walked down the road for about a hundred yards. He stopped before a large wooden building with an additional floor and large double doors. Standing guard before the building where a pair of Forlorn and two more pairs where patrolling around the building. All guards saluted Argyll on seeing him approach and he nodded to them before saying, "As you where." They all saluted him again before returning to their duties.

Argyll then led them around the building and they reached a large wooden gate leading to a reasonable sized and fenced pasture. He opened the gate and motioned for his guests to take their horses in. Once they were in, he turned to the Forlorn he had brought and said, "Five of you take positions at the front, two groups of five go patrol around the pasture and the rest of you help our guests in unsaddling their horses." Groups immediately split off while the remainder followed him through the gate.

Opening the large doors of the building, Argyll showed his guests a large wall with wooden shelves where they could store their tack and saddles. As the women and the Forlorn started to relieve the horses of their burdens, Argyll walked towards the three boxes that were occupied by his own beasts. First up where a pair of gentle natured palfreys called Grey and Pepper, for their coloring. The biggest box at the end was reserved for his snow white destrier, which he had named after his late wife, Alys.

He had come across the destrier while walking around the markets one day, the huge animal had a surprisingly calm and gentle nature, which was probably the reason she was being sold by her previous owner, the commander of the city guard. The two palfreys he had bought along with a comfortable carriage during his second week, when he became tired of using the elephants for transport around the city. Missandei had told him that he should try to minimize the distance he travelled by foot as much as possible, since the wealthiest and most important people in the city never travelled by foot, so the carriage was a useful means of moving around the city.

"She's a beautiful animal," A voice disturbed his thoughts as he slowly petted Alys' neck. Looking up he saw Valaya standing next to him.

"That she is," he replied with a fond look at the mare. "How do you intend to get word back to the ladies about your mission here? I suppose you know more than me about their current whereabouts."

"We intend to sell our horses and buy a small, fast ship." Valaya replied while letting the horse smell her hand before stroking its neck. "We need to meet up with the armada before they reach their destination in 3 weeks, otherwise it'll be impossible to reach them in time for them to then make it over here."

"I think I might be able to help you out with that," Argyll said with a smile. "I need to meet with the Good Masters first thing in the morning, as no doubt by then they will have been informed about your arrival and will want to know what you are doing here. But afterwards I'll take you on a tour around the docks, there are several ships in port that might suit your needs."

"Thank you my Lord," Valaya replied with a small bow, treating him as she would any other officer of a superior rank. "If you don't mind, we would like a place to sleep for what remains of the night. We have ridden hard this past fortnight and are rather tired. Shall we make camp in the pasture or do you have room on your ships for us?"

"Well if you don't mind sleeping in hammocks, I would prefer to have you on board and away from prying eyes. You have my word that none will disturb you while you rest until my return."

"You have my thanks my Lord," Valaya replied with another small bow.

Shortly after that, one of Valaya's warrior women came to them to say that all the horses had been unsaddled, rubbed dry, fed and watered, and set loose in the pasture to rest from their journey. Upon hearing that, Argyll nodded and led the group out of the stable and then back to the docks, leaving the Forlorn behind to guard the stable and the horses.

Once they returned to the ships, they all soon went to sleep after Argyll had shown them to the mid-deck cargo hold that had been repurposed as sleeping quarters with about 60 hammocks hung from the ceiling.

XXX

5 hours later, just after sunrise, Argyll was again woken up by someone knocking on his door, though a lot less noisome than earlier that night. "My Lord, a messenger from the Good Masters has arrived, they wish to be informed about the guests you received last night."

"Understood," he answered the Forlorn before groaning softly to himself. He stood up and started to get dressed, it was expected, but still he resented having to get up this early. Dressing himself in his 'official business clothes', consisting of loose black silk pants, a gold trimmed black silk shirt, sandals decorated with fine golden accents and a ceremonious curved dagger on a belt of golden chains.

So dressed up, he left his cabin and knocked on the door next to his. "What is it?" the sleepy voice of Missandei answered him from within.

"Get dressed pleased, I have been summoned by the Good Masters to explain about our midnight visitors."

He got a "Yes Argyll," in reply and moved up the wooden stairs to the deck. Breakfast was already set out for him and Missandei beneath the cloth roof spun before the aft castle. As he sat down, he thought about the young girl who had become a very valuable servant, but more importantly, a very dear friend not unlike a daughter. She had taught him about the customs of the Slavers, their rules and etiquette, the lay out of the city, who each of the Good Masters were and what they were like. She had even begun teaching him the Bastard Valyrian dialect that was spoken in Slaver's Bay, so he could enact his business without having to rely solely on her translating skills.

His thoughts were interrupted when Missandei pulled back the chair opposite him and sat down for her own breakfast. She was dressed in the black linen dress with golden trims she always wore when accompanying her 'master' to his meetings with the Good Masters. The black collar around her neck he so despised gleamed in the early sun light and trying to take his mind off of it, he grabbed the loaf of bread from the table and tore it in two pieces. Handing the smaller section to Missandei, he next helped himself to the plate with cheese and baked bacon before pushing it over to the girl across from him.

"So, what was it with the visitors last night?" Missandei asked between bites of bread and sipping the mug of milk in front of her.

"They are who they said they were, and they brought a letter from my superiors telling about their progress and their expected time of arrival." He picked up the leather tube from its place on the floor. "This letter to be precise. I'm taking it with me to prove my words with the Good Masters."

Missandei nodded softly before asking, "So when are they coming?"

"In about 7 weeks," Argyll replied before adding with a smile, "and from what I gathered from the letter, they are not coming alone."

"Are they bringing an army?" The girl asked curiously, she wasn't stupid, and knew that Argyll had an intense and burning hatred for anything even remotely related to slavery. And from what little he had told her about his mysterious superiors, they were even more averse to the practice. So, them buying tens of thousands of slave soldiers, was somewhat suspicious to her and she suspected some ulterior motives on their part. The fact that cemented this belief for her, was that she had on several times seen him look at her collar and heard him mutter, "If only _they_ would hurry up, then she wouldn't have to suffer such a demeaning thing much longer."

"Why do you ask?" Argyll inquired a little suspiciously, he had always tried to avoid talking to much about the Ladies and their plans for Slaver's Bay.

"Because I'm not stupid Argyll," Missandei replied while rolling her eyes. "Did you seriously think that I hadn't picked up on your refusal to talk about your superiors or their plans. You obviously despise anything even remotely connected to slavery, so why buy the Unsullied unless you are planning to use them. So, I ask again, are they bringing an army?"

Being completely over bluffed by her blunt reply, Argyll nodded slowly and said, "I would think so yes. They didn't say so expressly, but it was heavily implied. I believe we should ask their envoy later today about that."

Missandei nodded softly with a thoughtful expression on her face. The rest of their breakfast was spent in silence and after it was done, Argyll ordered the carriage being readied for them and soon after they left for the palace next to the Plaza of Pride that was the seat for the Good Masters. Joining them was a guard of twenty-four Forlorn marching before and behind the carriage on foot and one more handling the reins of Grey and Pepper who were pulling the carriage.

The crowds automatically parted before them, since the black and golden tabards of the Forlorn, in addition to the two great standards that were carried before the carriage, made it clear to everyone who was approaching. By the orders of the Good Masters, their exalted guest was to be shown every form of respect possible, in order to keep him happy and favorable to them. The punishments for breaking this rule was very harsh, crucifixion for a slave, enslavement for a free born, and very hefty fines for the nobility. Argyll knew about this but was in no position to do anything about it, so he did his best to ignore the whole thing.

During the half hour ride to the palace, Missandei kept up the image of the obedient little slave girl, by kneeling on the floor of the carriage while Argyll sat in the soft, feather stuffed pillows of the carriage. When she had first done this, Argyll had been most upset, but she had convinced him of the necessity of it by telling her that if she was found sitting on equal height with her 'master', she would be whipped or even crucified.

Upon their arrival at the palace, they saw a pair of servants waiting for them. One hurried inside, no doubt to warn the Good Masters that their guest had arrived, while the other approached the carriage and bowed before opening the door of the carriage. Argyll stepped out and was followed by Missandei, who kept her head obediently lowered and carried the leather tube with the letter. She also carried a leather satchel with a writing box and several scrolls of empty parchment. Twenty of the Forlorn surrounded them as they went inside, while the other five, including the two standard bearers stayed outside to guard the carriage.

The servant brought them to the council chamber where they found the Good Masters assembled and waiting for them. All eight of them were arrayed on their gilded seats around the half round table, and Argyll walked towards the ninth across from them where he sat himself down. Missandei obediently stood behind and slightly to the left of him.

Kraznys mo Nakloz and Grazdan mo Ullhor sat in the middle, directly opposite Argyll, showing their position as the two richest members of the Good Masters. It also happened that these two were the only ones who's names he had remembered and even cared to know as the others never spoke to him.

"Welcome, my Lord," Kraznys greeted him with a nod of the head while Missandei as always translated everything faithfully for Argyll. "I assume you already know why we asked you to come here?"

"I do," Argyll replied with a small nod before holding up his hand, in which Missandei placed the leather tube. "My superiors have sent an envoy with a letter to me, detailing their expected arrival in your great city and asking me to confer with you about your progress in gathering Unsullied."

"Ah that is good to hear," Grazdan remarked with the beginnings of a smile. Just as all the others at the table, he to would not be getting paid until Argyll's superiors arrived. "So when can we expect their arrival?"

"In seven weeks," Argyll replied calmly while pulling the scroll from the leather tube. "They have suffered a small delay during their preparations, but everything is still moving apace as planned. If you can give me the numbers of Unsullied you have gathered up until now and how many you expect to have gathered by the time my superiors arrive, I will write a letter to them and give it to their envoy to deliver."

Kraznys nodded and snapped his fingers, sending a servant standing a few paces behind him scurrying out of the chamber on a hurry. While they waited, Missandei placed a scroll before Argyll, followed by the wooden box containing the writing set. She opened the box and began preparing everything for Argyll to write the promised letter. She opened the ink pot, placed two long and richly decorated black marble stones on the scroll of parchment to keep it flat and opened and placed two white swan feathers next to the inkpot to write with.

She also put a small pan with solidified black wax on a stand above a lit candle and removed his personal seal from the locked part of the box with the key Argyll handed her. His seal was a variation of the sigil of House Valaris, it showed the dragon skull, but instead of the chain, it was surrounded by a ring of waves to show his descent from the Riverlands.

Mere seconds after Missandei finished, the servant came hurrying back into the room with a thick scroll under his arm. With a bow he handed the scroll to Kraznys, before retreating back to his previous place. Kraznys unrolled the scroll and placed two similar stones on the ends to keep it open while he read the list out loud;

"So far, we have gathered,

 _16,500 Unsullied from Astapor,_

 _1,500 Unsullied from Yunkai,_

 _2,000 Unsullied from Mereen,_

 _800 Unsullied from Kosrak,_

 _400 Unsullied from Tolos,_

 _400 Unsullied from Elyria,_

 _400 Unsullied from Hesh, and_

 _500 Unsullied from Lhazosh_ have been procured butare still on the way. They are expected to arrive within two weeks. We have some 3,800 still in training, but they are still between 2 and 6 years from completing their training. So that brings the grand total to 22,500 Unsullied. As previously agreed upon, the price per Unsullied has been set at 600 gold pieces, minus the 900,000 gold pieces we have already received, this makes for a grand total of 12,600,000 gold pieces."

Kraznys finished his summary with an expectant look at Argyll, who was minutely writing down everything the great slaver had just said. They waited politely for Argyll to finish before Grazdan mo Ullhor took over.

"As for the progress on the armor you have chosen, we have 19,800 Unsullied fully equipped, with the remainder expected to be done within the next 5 weeks. Just two days ago we have received the last shipment of leather we needed to complete the full order."

"Very good," Argyll replied after finishing writing it down, "When we made our deal, you mentioned that you would charge an additional 45 gold pieces for each of the first 20,000 sets, and the remainder you would not charge for. Does that still stand now that there are 2,500 more?"

Grazdan looked a little uncomfortable, as they were talking about a total of 100,000 more gold pieces. Seeing his look Argyll smiled understandingly and said, "I am willing to meet you halfway. In consideration of your promise but also with an eye on your situation, I will pay 50,000 gold pieces for those 2,500 extra sets. Is that agreeable to you?"

Grazdan's look immediately turned to one of relief and he said quickly, "Yes, that would be very generous as I try to be a man of my word, and this way it will cover the costs."

Nodding to himself Argyll pulled out a piece of spare parchment and added the numbers up for himself. "So that makes it 12,600,000 for the Unsullied, and 950,000 for the equipment. For a grand total of 13,550,000." The Good Masters all nodded, and Argyll noted the numbers in the letter.

Finishing it up with a few pleasantries and comments, Argyll rolled up the parchment and handed it to Missandei who held it securely at both ends. Picking up the wax pan he dropped a sizeable amount of wax on the edge of the scroll before pressing his seal on in. Following that he dropped two smaller puddles of wax near both ends and pressed his signet ring into it, leaving a stylized letter A surrounded by flames.

Shortly after that the meeting ended, and Argyll promised to send the envoys on their way at the earliest opportunity. As Missandei was re-packing the writing supplies in the box, Kraznys approached them and said softly in a somewhat terrible attempt at speaking the common tongue, "I… hoped… that… liked… you… gift… made… by… me."

With his eyebrows raised at Kraznys attempt to speak his language, Argyll thought back to the scantily clad teens that had appeared at his ships two days ago. He had known why they were sent, as the collars they wore were decorated with images of copulating couples. He had refused to touch them and told them to tell their master that he had been fully satisfied.

"Yes," he replied with a fake pleasant smile. "They were very lovely thank you." Kraznys completely missed the sarcasm in his voice and smiled elatedly before nodding in goodbye and leaving the room.

Looking at the retreating back of the slaver, Argyll muttered so softly that only Missandei could hear, "I swear, before this is all over, I'll put your head on a spike you disgusting little swine.

The small smile on Missandei's face went unnoticed but she grasped the small dagger she wore under her dress and thought, ' _And I'll be glad to help you put it there."_

XXX

Early the next morning, Valaya and her guards took sail on the _Cinnamon Wind_ , a Swan ship from the Summer Isles that had agreed to ferry them to their secret destination, relying solely on Valaya's instructions in exchange for a reasonable fee. Their horses were left under the care of Argyll as they did not after all need to be sold to pay for their trip back to the armada.

They were waved off by Argyll and Missandei, and Valaya carried the letter Argyll had written in a leather tube that had been securely stashed in her cabin.

During the nearly three-week long journey, Valaya and her warriors stayed completely mute about their destination, though the crew of the _Cinnamon Wind_ could obviously guess the rough destination by their heading.

XXX

By the time they reached the southernmost tip of the massive storm front that surrounded Valyria, it wasn't long before they began to see a sight that none of the sailors had ever held possible or could imagine. The seas were remarkably calm outside the storms as they reached the point they had been told by the Ladies, a gigantic pillar of rock rising from the seas. The battered ruins of an ancient watchtower were just barely recognizable on top of the rock.

Valaya ordered the captain to throw anchor and said, "Now we wait, if my calculations are correct, the fleet will arrive here tomorrow."

Barely an hour after they arrived the lookout gave a yell from the top of the main mast, "Captain, there is something on the horizon, to the west of us." Captain Quhuro Mo took out his Myrish eye and looked towards the direction the lookout had indicated.

He looked, then looked again, removed the Myrish eye from his eyes and rubbed his fist in it to clear out any imagined dirt before replacing his Myrish eye. "That's not possible," he muttered softly before looking at Valaya who had a very smug smile on her lips.

"I'm guessing you're seeing a mass of sails on the horizon and are wondering whether it is wise to stay here?" The captain nodded mutely and still smiling, Valaya added, "What you are seeing now is merely the vanguard of the Armada we are waiting for."

The Captain's eyes widened, and he asked softly, "If that is the vanguard, then how large is your entire fleet?"

"Around 1,800 ships give or take a few dozen." Valaya and the other warriors leaned back against the railing and made themselves comfortable for the night, as it would take at least till the next morning until the first ships would reach them.

XXX

During the night nothing of note happened, except that none of the crew of the _Cinnamon Wind_ could catch a wink of sleep while the two dozen women slept peacefully when not on watch duty.

At first light the occupants of the swan ship were somewhat surprised to find that they were now entirely surrounded by warships. The _Chain Breaker_ and the _Titan's Pride_ were anchored just ahead of them with the _Sapphire_ , the _Emerald_ , the _Kraken's might,_ and the _Spear of Dorne_ close by.

When Valaya moved to the bow of the swan ship, she could see admiral Uthero standing on a similar place on his own ship the _Titan's Pride._ Giving him a nod, she, him and everyone else could do nothing more than wait for something to happen. Everything now hinged on the Ladies and whether or not they could get the storms to recede.

For nearly two hours nothing happened until a sudden roar could be heard over the noise of the storms. It sounded similar to what they had heard at the siege of Tyrosh, but also a little different. A little less… impressive, as if the one who had unleased it was smaller than 'the beasts ridden by' the Ladies.

When the roar had finally echoed out of existence, something incredible happened. The storm front right before them began to recede, first slowly but then faster until a sort of tunnel appeared leading through the storm. And from the tunnel came, flying slowly and deliberately, came a gigantic blue and silver dragon.

The crew of the _Cinnamon Wind_ stood stock still, shocked to the bone at seeing the magnificent creature approach. Of course, they had heard stories over the last few months, stories of dragons fighting in Westeros and later at Tyrosh, but hearing is far less than seeing.

Turning to the captain, Valaya softly shook his shoulder until he looked at her. His eyes were foggy for a few seconds more before they cleared, and a gleam was visible in them. "Do you now understand why we could not tell you where we were going or who we were headed to?"

Valaya's words caused the man to nod mutely and she smiled softly before slowly swinging her right arm around her indicating the fleet that lay around them and was preparing to follow the dragon into the tunnel and towards the clear blue sky on the other side. "If you want to meet them, then I suggest you follow them in. You will be safe in there and you have my word that you will be allowed to leave again when my superiors leave for Astapor to take possession of the Unsullied they have ordered."

The captain nodded, still with that gleam in his eyes before turning to his crew, all of which were still staring at the now retreating shape of the dragon. "You heard the lady, you gaping slack jaws, we follow them in. Raise the anchor and set half sail, the wind should blow us straight trough the tunnel and out the other side." The crew shot to action and soon after their ship followed the first dozen ships that had already entered the tunnel.

The journey trough the tunnel was not the most comfortable they had ever had. The tunnel was maybe a mile wide and half as high, but beyond that they could see lighting strikes coming down in scores, and waves higher than their ship. In a single frightening flash, they could see a long and thin creature that was bigger than a galley swimming in the waters below them, but luckily nothing came to the surface to threaten them.

Once they were out of the tunnel, they saw a land that could only be called a paradise. Long beaches with fine white sand covered the shores and beyond that were endless forests and wide green planes filled with herds of deer, wild horses and a myriad of other animals. The water below them was only 40 or 50 feet deep and was clear as glass, showing large schools of fish and a sea bed with crabs, lobsters and other bottom dwellers.

Ahead of them the dragon was slowly circling above them as they sailed towards a city in the distance. The city was built upon a series of hills and surrounded by high walls of black stone. A massive harbor could be seen below the city and they sailed towards it, the fleet clearly followed previously given orders, while the dragon entered the city and disappeared from view.

The faster warships went ahead of the slower transports and unloaded the soldiers on the stone docks that rose from the water. Once empty, the warships retreated back from harbor and rowed towards the beaches besides it and the galleys beached themselves, while the others dropped anchor near the shore.

When the warships were unloaded, the _Cinnamon Wind_ made for the docks where the _Chain Breaker,_ the _Titan's Pride,_ and the _Spear of Dorne_ were the only warships still docked. Captain Quhuro Mo managed to dock his ship safely and while his crew was securing the mooring ropes, two figures approached the ship.

Both were clad in heavy armor and while one was a woman of medium height, the other was a towering behemoth nearing 8 feet tall. Both were armed to the teeth, but their helmets were off and their faces stayed friendly.

As soon as the gangplank was dropped, Valaya led her warriors off the ship and bowed deeply before the two figures and offered them the leather tube containing Argyll's letter. "My Lady, my Lord, we have completed our mission and bring good news from the Lord General Argyll."

Francine smiled at the young woman and accepted the tube saying, "I'm glad to see that you are safe Valaya and seeing you here, all of you, successful in your mission lightens my heart. Come, bring the captain of this ship and follow me, the Ladies will want to see you as soon as possible."

Having said that, Francine and Ivan turned around and led the group down the docks, and towards a familiar group of people in the distance.


	32. Chapter 32

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 32

During the weeks they had to prepare for the arrival of the fleet, the group of new Valyrians kept themselves rather busy. The scouts they had sent out with Daisy and Buttercup, came back after a few days with tales of the most wondrous and terrifying beasts they had seen.

The herds of horses Boltrock had mentioned, where no ordinary horses. All seemed to be remarkably large and even more aggressive than most destriers. They had witnessed a pack of hyena's, Daisy and Buttercup did not like their scent one bit, while they were hunting down a wounded horse that had lagged behind the main herd. To their amazement, the wounded horse had fought ferociously against the pack of hyena's before going down, kicking away 5 of them, 2 of which did not get up again.

Near one of the rivers they had found a species that had scared the shit out of them. If not the top of the local food chain, then it was definitely second, as they saw Vermithrax scoop one up when it came charging towards where they were. Small herds of rhinoceros dominated the riversides. Unlike their normal vegetarian counterparts from the mainland of Essos, these were obviously carnivorous judging by the bone fields that littered the riversides, and they were hyper aggressive, fighting amongst themselves for practically nothing.

After Vermithrax had scared off the herd that had noticed them, they saw them charge down a small group of deer, simply trampling them or eviscerating them with their horns. After the slaughter, they turned around and calmly started to eat, even the calves tore at the carcasses with gusto until their heads were dripping with blood.

Vermithrax had informed them that during his own scouting trip he had flown all the way to the northern mountains. There he had found that he was not the only flying alpha-predator. Large mountain goats were scattered on the mountain sides, to high for any land-based predator to hunt them. The images he had given them of the beast that hunted them was immediately recognized, a Griffon. Having the head, wings and front legs of a gigantic eagle, and the hindquarters of a lion, the beast stood 7 foot at the withers. The massive beak was lined with razor sharp teeth, and the front claws held talons 3 inches in length.

They were not sure where these monstrous predators had come from, but they were pretty sure they were not natural, as Francine had found accounts of the so-called 'Flesh Pits'. These were abominable laboratories where the Blood mages experimented with combining different species to form new ones. The most well known of these experiments where obviously the dragons, but it would appear that they were not the only ones.

Of course, Ivan and Francine immediately demanded to be allowed to try and tame some of these beasts to use as their mounts, as having to rely on Aurora and Gabrielle for transportation was rather bothersome for all. Ivan chose to attempt to tame a rhinoceros, as he much preferred solid ground over fluffy clouds, while Francine wanted a griffon, always having enjoyed the feel of the wind blowing through her hair while high in the sky.

Deciding to split up for the moment, Aurora went with Ivan to the rivers, while Gabrielle flew Francine towards the northern mountains.

XXX

Ivan was rather picky with choosing one he liked, as he reasoned that his size and his position demanded he chose the biggest and strongest one he could possibly find. In the end it took them nearly two days of searching before they found the undisputed 'King of the Rhino's' along a river near the city of Oros.

Standing 6 foot 2 at the shoulder and 13 feet 6 inches in length, the beast weighted what they estimated to be around 8,000 or 9,000 pounds. Thick layers of near armor-like skin covered its body and the two horns on his head could easily penetrate even the strongest plate armor, judging by the skewered tree trunks that were scattered around his domain.

Demanding he do this himself, Ivan jumped off Aurora's back and pulled out his mace. Keeping the spikes withdrawn, the weapon was less likely to kill the rhino, though it would still knock him out quite nicely if Ivan could hit him right.

The rhino watched him suspiciously but did not immediately charge, obviously he didn't trust the massive-ass dragon encroaching on his territory. As soon as Aurora had flown off though, just going out of sight but staying close by just in case, the rhino did charge. Ivan could literally feel the ground shake under his armored feet as the rhino came barreling towards him at 30 mph.

Ivan managed to barely jump out of reach of the horns as the rhino ran past him, being hampered by his mass preventing him from turning quickly. Spinning away from the rhino time and time again, Ivan intended to tire him out. After 10 minutes of dodging charges and the beast not tiring in the slightest, it dawned on him that the rhino would not be beaten this way.

The next pass the rhino made managed to surprise him. At the last moment, he swung his head to the side nipping Ivan in the shoulder with the tip of his front horn. The blow managed to actually penetrate his chest plate but was stopped by the mail underneath. Being stuck on the horn, the rhino dragged him along for a few dozen yards. Eventually, the force of the blow having damaged it already, Ivan's weight and resistance was too much for the horn and it snapped off, nearly a foot below the tip.

As Ivan lay on the ground, the rhino ran along for a few dozen yards more before slowing down enough to turn around. Jumping up, Ivan snarled at the rhino and gripping his mace in two hands, he awaited the next charge, which came immediately. Timing it just right, Ivan jumped up and aside just before the rhino reached him and he swung his mace against the beast's head. The rhino crashed to the ground and he saw it roll underneath him as he temporarily hung in the air.

The rhino eventually stopped rolling and came to a halt in a small puddle of mud. The rising and falling of his chest showed that the rhino was still alive, but it was obviously knocked out and would no doubt have a massive headache when he woke up. Seeing the battle was won, Aurora landed and quickly changed before hurrying towards the fallen beast.

Putting her hands on the rhino's head, she scanned him for any damage before muttering, "Holy shit, that is one tough bastard." Turning to Ivan she asked with a small grin, "Was that blow full strength? Cause if it was, then that thing has one hell of thick skull. He's got like no damage whatsoever and I think he'll wake up at any moment. So, we best do this quickly."

As Ivan approached he pulled off his right gauntlet and Aurora did the same. Pulling a dagger from her boot, she tried to make a gash on the rhino's shoulder, only to discover that the inch-thick layer of hardened skin was extremely resistant to being cut. Eventually she settled for placing the knife upright on the shoulder and carefully slamming her fist on the end until it cut through.

Now having an open wound, small as it was, Ivan pulled a knife of his own from his belt and cut his palm. Squeezing his hand shut above the wound, he poured a stream of thick, dark red blood into the wound. After a few seconds, his hand stopped bleeding and he licked off the few drops of blood that clung to the quickly healing cut on his palm. When he was done, Aurora pricked her own index finger and dropped three drops of her own boiling hot blood into the wound, causing it to start to sizzle and eventually slowly knit the torn skin back together, leaving only a small scar behind.

"Congratulations Ivan," Aurora grinned to him, "He's your problem now."

Grinning a little maniacally Ivan turned towards his new mount and said, "Thanks, and I think I know how to name this new race of rhinos, The Juggernauts." Turning back to Aurora he saw her smile in appreciation and slapping the armor-like skin he added, "I think I'll call him Ironhide."

"Fitting…" was all she could reply before the newly named Ironhide began to move. They both carefully took some distance to let him wake up on his own. When he did so, the massive beast curiously smelled at them before walking towards Ivan and starting to nudge the piece of horn still imbedded in his armor.

Ivan pulled the horn out and showed it to Ironhide who licked it and tried to place his stump against the broken edge, in an obvious attempt to reattach it. When it didn't work, he made a soft, almost whining sound. Slowly, and very carefully, Ivan reached out his bare right hand and touched Ironhide on the head, between the eyes and started to softly rub him there. "It's all right buddy," he half whispered, "We'll get you a new one once we get home."

Somehow Ironhide seemed to understand him and the whining sound stopped, only to be replaced by him nudging Ivan with his head towards his back, almost as if to say, 'go on, get up'.

Opening her pouch, Aurora removed a large saddle which was originally meant for a dragon but would serve adequately for now. Handing it to Ivan, she helped him place the saddle on Ironhide's back and to strap it securely in place. After making a few adjustments to the belts and attaching makeshift stirrups, she handed Ivan the reins and helped him to get in the saddle.

"Okay buddy, show me what you've got," Ivan said while patting the right shoulder of his new mount. Words he would soon regret.

Turning towards the open plains in the direction of Tyria, Ironhide began a slow trot, which soon developed into a full gallop. When he reached what Ivan hoped was his top speed, at around 30 miles an hour, his rider was tossed about on the saddle. Only the straps securing his legs and the death-grip he held on the saddle ring before him prevented Ivan from being thrown off.

Aurora partially transformed and spread her wings, using them she was able to keep track of where Ivan was brought by his new companion. To her surprise, and Ivan's dismay, Ironhide kept up the tempo for nearly ten minutes, showing an immense stamina for such a massive beast. When he finally stopped, Ivan quickly loosened the straps holding his legs before literally falling out of the saddle. Grabbing a few handfuls of sand he muttered, "Sweet, sweet, solid ground."

When Aurora landed next to him, she withdrew her wings and offered him a hand. pulling him back to his feet she said, "I'm sure Boltrock can come up with a solution to keep you from being thrown about every time he gets moving."

"Let's hope so," Ivan grumbled softly while the shivers ran down his back, "That was worse than Francine's first driving lesson." Looking up at hearing Aurora's amused scoff he added quickly, "Please don't tell her I said that."

"Your secret's safe with me Ivan," she reassured him before saying, "Help me keep him calm will you, I'm gonne fly you back to Valyria and I do not want an 8,000 pound beast to go hysteric in my claws."

"I'll do my best," he replied while looking a bit worriedly at Ironhide, who stood close by with his ears directed at them and a suspiciously curled up upper lip, almost as if he knew what was going to happen and daring them to try it.

XXX

Gabrielle and Francine had flown all the way towards the northern mountains where they were now circling around the highest snow-covered peaks. Using their incredibly sharp eyesight, they were trying to peer into the sunlight-reflecting snow to get a glimpse of the quarry they had briefly spotted earlier in the afternoon. A magnificent griffon, as big as the one Vermithrax had shown them, with a snow-white coat of feathers and hair. Understandably such a natural camouflage made spotting the griffon almost impossible in these surroundings, even for their eyesight.

For several hours they flew around the mountain peaks, scaring the shit out of the local goat population when Gabrielle's shadow darkened entire clearings as she soared overhead. Eventually it was Francine who spotted the first movement. A sliver of white shot from the mountain below them and quickly descended towards the valley below them.

"THERE," she yelled, "below us." Gabrielle followed her directions and as soon as she saw it, she turned her wings and dove downwards with a dazzling speed. Within a minute she had fallen 5,000 feet and was now hot on the pursuit.

Despite her greater speed, Gabrielle's size made her less agile and the griffon was able to stay ahead of them by diving away from her grasping claws. They chased after the griffon for several hours until finally, the magnificent creature retreated back to the top they had chased it from.

When it landed, the griffon retreated back towards a large cave and stayed protectively in the opening. Whilst obviously exhausted, the griffon kept its head raised proudly and pawed at the ground with its front claws. The fearsome beak was opened threateningly and a warning shriek came forward from its throat.

Gabrielle landed a fair ways away from the opening of the cave and Francine quickly jumped off. "Leave me," she muttered to Gabrielle and the great dragon blinked at her once before flapping her wings and jumping off the mountain peak.

As soon as she was alone again, Francine carefully made her way up to the cave. The griffon shrieked again to scare her off, but she stood her ground. Removing her gauntlets, she raised her bare hand and said softly in a soothing tone, "Shh, relax gorgeous, I'm not going to harm you. Just let me come a little closer. I'm not going to harm you. Please, just let me come a little closer."

As she was just inches away from the opened beak, the fearsome razor teeth ready to rip apart her fingers. Taking a deep breath, she said once more, "I'm not going to harm you, please don't harm me." She raised her hand and looked away showing the griffon the extent of her trust.

One more shriek echoed around the mountain peak before she felt a very soft something touch the palm of her hand. Turning her head slowly back towards the griffon, she saw that it had placed its head against her hand and was rubbing its forehead against it. Slowly raising her left hand, she brought it to the side of the griffon's head and softly stroked it.

"Hey gorgeous, you want to show me why you're being so defensive?" Removing its head from her hands, the griffon turned around and led Francine into the cave. At the end was a large nest made of twigs, moss and feathers, and in the nest, where 5 large eggs.

"You're a girl, aren't you?" The griffon nudged her softly with her head and let out a soft squeak. "You wanne come with me girl, give your young ones a safe place to grow up?" The soft nudge she received in her back, pushing her towards the nest was all the answer she required.

"Wait here for a moment girl, I need to get someone." Francine patted her head once more before swiftly walking out of the cave. Looking up she saw Gabrielle gliding above her. "CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE?" The massive dragon folded her wings and sped down. A few dozen yards above the mountain she changed and landed on her two feet with a clang that echoed over the mountain peak.

"So, you got it on board I take it?" Francine nodded and the question and replied,

"Yea I did, and _it_ is a girl by the way. She has a nest of 5 eggs in there."

With a slight grin Gabrielle began counting down names on her fingers and said softly, "Ygritte, Layla, Yara, Sandor and Valaya, yea that could work." Looking towards the cave she asked, "You think she'll be willing to part with her young ones once they hatch?"

"I guess, but we'll have to see once we get to that part. Let's just get the bonding over first, then we'll be able to understand her better."

"Okay, let's get to it then." Gabrielle replied before following Francine back into the cave.

Once back inside Francine introduced Gabrielle to the griffon and said to the griffon, "Now don't freak out okay gorgeous." It was good she said that as once Gabrielle drew a knife, the griffon's eyes widened in fear.

Making sure the griffon saw every move they made, Gabrielle handed the knife to Francine and Francine made sure the griffon saw her slicing open her own hand. Motioning towards the griffon's right front claw, Francine handed the knife back to Gabrielle while carefully reaching down to grab the griffon's leg and carefully pull it up and towards her.

Very carefully the leg was raised and once it was at a suitable height, Gabrielle took over holding the leg up while Francine took back the knife and very carefully made a small cut on the leg until she saw blood. Re-slicing her own hand, since it had already closed, she dropped a stream of blood into the wound and watched as the two kinds of blood mixed. Quickly biting her finger with a fang, Gabrielle dropped three drops of her own blood into the wound and they watched the results.

Surprisingly enough, the bonding for the griffon came with a small physical change as well. Some of the snow-white feathers on her head turned black and the pattern showed a tiara-like design. At the same time, a design of a teardrop-shaped collar appeared at her breast in golden feathers.

"Wow," both Francine and Gabrielle exclaimed at the same time and looked in wonder at the new decorations.

"Hey beautiful, I think I have a name for you, _Duchess_. You like it?" The affectionate nudge she received was all the answer she required.

"I like it," Gabrielle said with a smile as she looked at the interaction. Muttering the name for herself she said, "Duchess, yea it sounds fitting." Pulling open her pouch she removed a dragon saddle and gave it to Francine. "Here, let's get her saddled up and get you two in the air."

Working together they quickly got the saddle up on Duchess and made some adjustments to make it fit properly. As soon as Gabrielle was satisfied, Francine swung herself into the saddle and secured her legs into the straps to hold her in during aerial maneuvers.

Unknowingly echoing her husband, Francine padded Duchess' her neck and said, "Let's go girl, show me what you've got." Taking that as a challenge, Duchess shook her head and walked out of the cave. Flapping her wings, the magnificent griffon took a small running start before jumping down the mountain. As they fell, Francine screamed her lungs out in joy and exhilaration as the wind made her long hair flow after her.

From where she stood on the edge of the cliff, Gabrielle watched with a grin as Duchess pulled off one stunt after the other, to the utter joy of her new rider. After about half an hour Duchess turned back towards her cave and landed heavily on the short plateau before it. With the previous chase and now the acrobatics, she was obviously exhausted.

Walking up to them, Gabrielle softly placed her hand of the griffon's neck and sent her an image of Duchess lying on Gabrielle's back during flight. When she gave her approval, Gabrielle moved back into the cave and under Duchess' watchful eyes, she pulled an empty pouch from her belt and opened it out before the nest. Carefully, she and Francine picked up the nest and placed it as a whole into the pouch eggs and all. When it was in, Gabrielle folded the pouch back up and attached it to a long leather rope. Making a loop from the rope, she hung it around Duchess' neck.

When everything was settled, Gabrielle walked out of the cave and jumped off the cliff herself. Changing during the fall she made a wide turn before hovering before the plateau. Clamping herself down against the mountain side, she arched her neck thusly that both Francine and Duchess could walk over her head and take a hold on her back. Having left the saddle in Valyria, Francine used a rope to attach herself to two of the spikes on Gabrielle's neck, while duchess clamped her front claws around two larger spikes and nestled herself securely between the largest spikes on Gabrielle's spine.

Once her passengers were secure, Gabrielle carefully pulled herself up until she was barely able to stand on the plateau. Turning around, she stretched her wings and carefully jumped off the mountain peak, gliding downwards and flying smoothly on to their new capital.

XXX

A few weeks later Vermithrax interrupted their cleanup work with the message that a single ship had dropped anchor at the old watch tower, with a gigantic armada moving in quickly from the west.

"That's our fleet moving in," Aurora told him when the golden dragon had landed in the courtyard. "You are going to have to make a choice my friend," Aurora said slowly while looking into one of his big golden eyes. "Do you want our people to know about you, or do you want to keep your existence a secret?"

His reply was to show her an image of him flying freely over the land, clearly visible for all to see.

"Very well brother, then we shall tell them of you, and let our enemies learn to fear your name."

The next morning Gabrielle changed into her dragon form and accompanied Vermithrax towards the storms over the seaward river. When they arrived, two hours after dawn, Vermithrax let out a roar before flying upwards, higher and higher until he reached the middle of the storms. There he dove in, splitting the storms beneath him and creating a tunnel for the armada to safely pass through and enter the lands of Valyria.

Gabrielle met the fleet and led them through the tunnel towards their new capital where the others were waiting to receive them.

XXX

By the time the _Chain Breaker_ approached the docks, the largest part of the Forlorn and the Unsullied had already marched halfway towards the city, while the others of their armed forces had begun making camp near the harbor. By Aurora's orders, only those two groups were allowed into the city until they had completed their search for 'booby traps'.

While the crew worked on docking the ship, Silvana, Lissena, and Ygritte were eagerly waiting to see their adoptive parents again after their six-week separation. Especially Ygritte was bouncing around on the deck, followed on her heels by Layla while Sandor stood against the railing, keeping a close eye on his two young charges. Ashara and Ygritte's babysitter Willow stood on the sideline, with Ashara holding little Elia and looking in awe up to the city that would be their new home.

As soon as the gangplank was laid across, Ygritte and Layla stormed down it and into the waiting arms of Aurora and Gabrielle. Laughing in joy at being reunited, their youngest daughter and her best friend were hugged for dear life and soon were joined by the twins and Yara.

Seeing Sandor walk down from the gangplank and keeping a respectful distance, Gabrielle smiled at him and opening one arm towards him she said, "Come Sandor, join the rest of your family." Sandor did so after a short hesitation and was immediately enveloped in the group hug, finding the feeling oddly satisfying.

After a minute, the two adults released the children and turning to the direction of the city Gabrielle said with a smile, "Kids we would like to introduce you to someone." As they looked towards where she was looking they got the fear of their lives. Standing there was the biggest non-giant person any of them had ever seen, and Sandor had known his brother all too well.

Both Sandor and Layla looked in awe at the figure as the mountain might have been a similar height, but in sheer size he couldn't even stand in this man's shadow. At more than twice Gregor's bulk, he must have weighed at least 1,000 pounds, armor included that is.

"Allow me to introduce you to the husband of Lady Francine; Ivan, the Lord Marshal of Valyria and supreme commander of our armies." At Aurora's words, Ivan removed his helmet and knelt down, so he was at the same height as the kids, giving them a gentle smile he said,

"Hello, nice to meet you all. I have heard a lot about all of you from Aurora and Gabrielle."

Ygritte was the first to talk back, being used to seeing giants she wasn't that scared of the stranger. "Are you a giant?" She asked, her grey-blue eyes looking curiously towards Ivan's green ones.

Ivan grinned softly before replying, "No little one, I am not a giant. I am simply blessed by the Old Gods."

"Then I want to be blessed too." Ygritte said with a determined, but very cute, look on her face and her arms crossed defiantly before her chest.

"Yea and me too," Layla added while taking a similar pose as her best friend and standing beside her.

A loud and cheerful laughter came from the adults while Aurora and Gabrielle picked up the two little girls and gave them both a hug. "Then we shall make it so little ones. Come, let us go to your new house and see what blessings await you there."

A cheer came from the family as they all followed Aurora and Gabrielle towards the city and into the gates. Everywhere they looked they saw Forlorn and Unsullied clearing the streets of skeletons and dragging the remains to piles where they were relieved of their armor, which was promptly put on by the Forlorn themselves. The Unsullied did not trade in their armor, as they were trained as light infantry and with them being eunuchs, they could not effectively fight in full heavy armor.

Aurora and Gabrielle brought them to a palace that stood apart from all the others. Standing at the top of a hill, close to the fortress overlooking the harbor and looking out towards the sea, it was made of white marble and larger than all the others they had passed. Surrounded by tall marble walls it was nearly a fortress in itself and the newcomers all looked in awe as they saw the sigil of House Valaris that was imbedded into the marble walls and above the gatehouse.

"Welcome to your new home kids." Gabrielle said with a smile as the children looked out their eyes at their surroundings while they walked underneath the gatehouse and into the gardens. The past 400 years had obviously left their mark here as the once perfectly kept gardens had turned into a jungle. Trees and bushes had overgrown everything but the lanes where still visible and a clear path had been cut towards the front gates of the house.

Once inside they received the grand tour before they were brought to a single tower that stood a bit apart from the others. Francine took the lead up the stairs and after a long way up, they came to a closed door. Pulling a key from a chain on her neck, Francine unlocked the door and said, "Make no sudden moves and before approaching them, ask for permission before you move."

The kids all looked a little confused before Francine opened the door. As they walked through, the kids all looked in amazement at seeing the creature before them. In a large nest made of twigs, moss and feathers, lay a magnificent white griffon. "Allow me to introduce, Duchess, my animal companion and mount." Francine's words caused Duchess to raise her head and let out a soft squeak.

"Hey girl," Francine said softly while walking towards her and caressed her feathered head. "Can we see them?" Duchess looked at her questioningly before slowly raising her left wing.

"Ahhh," all the girls said as one when 5 small feathered heads became visible from underneath their mother's wing. When they tried to approach the nest, Duchess screeched at them and flared her wings protectively to guard her young.

"Hush, calm girl," Francine quickly said before turning to the girls and hissing, "I told you to ask permission first."

"Sorry," they all muttered before doing exactly as Francine said. Once they had all apologized and asked permission, Duchess slowly lifted her wing to again reveal the extremely cute little griffons bumbling over each other in the nest.

As the girls doted on the little cuties, Sandor tried his very best to remain calm and not let through that he too found them rather adorable. Getting a poke in the side from Aurora he looked up towards her and she said softly, "It's okay Sandor, one of them is for you. Go pick one out." A grin stretched over his scarred face, now made far less gruesome thanks to Gabrielle's care, and he quickly joined the girls after asking Duchess for permission.

In the end, Sandor chose the one that was as black as night and called him Darkness. Ygritte chose one that was a dark reddish brown and when he scratched her by accident she called him Deathclaw. Layla chose one that was speckled white with black and named her Lilly. Yara was the last to choose one, a grey female she named Stormwing. The one that was left was a golden-brown male with red wings, named Bloodwing by Valaya.

The little ones stayed with Duchess until they were older, but the kids visited them every chance they got over the next two weeks.

XXX

In the meantime, the people got settled in their new city. The streets where cleared of skeletons and outside the city, the first fields were made ready for planting. Aurora and Gabrielle used their dragon forms to clear the city of the dragon corpses that were scattered around, and they dumped them in Vermithrax's old prison for storage before they could be harvested for useful materials.

The Forlorn had quickly adapted to their new environment and now they patrolled the city in the intimidating black armors they had found on the guards. For the moment the armory had been declared off limits to everyone and placed under permanent guard by no less than 100 Forlorn. The blacksmiths that had joined them from Braavos, Tyros and Westeros where quickly put to work under Boltrock's supervision. Any resentment they might have felt to be put to work under the command of a dwarf was soon vaporized by the presence of Daisy and Buttercup who followed him everywhere.

As promised by Ivan, Boltrock had made a new horn for Ironhide, and boy was it a fright for the people when they saw those two riding down the streets for the first time. It was a foot-long blade made from blackened Spell-Forged steel and sharpened to a razor's edge.

Boltrock had taken it upon himself to fashion armor for both Ironhide and Duchess, and that was what he did. Using the carcass of a snow-white dragon, he created a supple suit of dragon hide armor, which when cured was thrice as strong as normal leather, and covered it with small white scales to form a supple yet very strong suit of armor. A helmet and neck plates shaped from whitened Valyrian Steel finished the look. For Ironhide he went the other way. Cannibalizing several sets of horse armor, he made a large set of rust-red Chainmail armor which was reinforced with thick blackened Valyrian Steel plates to create a set of very intimidating heavy armor in the same style as Ivan's.

XXX

After the two weeks were over, most of the Forlorn, the Unsullied, a large part of the Sellswords, the Dornish, and 1.500 of Francine's warrior maidens which had been renamed as the Amazons, took to ship again. All of them were now clad in identical armor, if not from the city then from the armory, and now properly armed with Valyrian Steel.

Aurora had immediately fulfilled her promise of incredible riches to the Ironborn by giving them all a pick from one of the weapons in the armory, each more valuable than a chest full of Gold Dragons. The Ironborn would sail with them to Astapor but would not join in on their campaign. Instead they would be tasked with protecting the armada as it ferried between Valyria and slaver's bay to bring the soon to be new inhabitants to the peninsula.

After bonding them to their chosen griffon, they left the children behind in the city as well, as they were too young to be brought along on a military campaign. Duchess stayed behind to, since the young ones could not be without their mother yet. Ironhide did come along though and Ivan was filled with glee as he imagined the looks on the Slaver's faces as they saw him riding on his massive new war mount. Boltrock had taken a look at the saddle after Ivan complained to him about being shaken around like bag of wheat when Ironhide went to a run. Eventually he came with a solution of using coil springs to negate most of the movement, giving him a much more comfortable time in the saddle.

The military council was placed in temporary command of the city with Tychel, Orus and Syrio installed as governors until their return. Taking the entire fleet with them, the _Cinnamon Wind_ joined them, as the captain had sworn his allegiance to Aurora after he had been richly rewarded for bringing Valaya back to them. With their 30,000 men, Aurora and Gabrielle, with Ivan, Francine, Oberyn, Harry Strickland, Tatters, and Valaya at their side, took sail for Astapor, to begin their Slaver's Bay campaign and burn the wretched place to the ground.

As the armada left the storms, one thought was present in the minds of all those many tens-of-thousands that sailed north-east; the slavers had no idea what was coming. But they would soon learn, to _Fear the Dragon's Wrath._

Author's note:

And there it is, next chapter the Slaver's Bay campaign kicks off with a literal BANG as the Ladies arrive in Astapor. I hope you are all enjoying the story as much I enjoy writing it, so please let me know what you think by leaving a review they mean so much to me.

Anyway, see you all next time,

MM


	33. Chapter 33

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 33

As the _Cinnamon Wind_ pulled in to Astapor's harbor, Valaya paced around on the deck. She had the same 23 sisters with her as on the previous trip on the ship, and every single one of them was anxious about what would happen. They were a day ahead of the Armada, which had been very carefully arranged.

The first to arrive would be the warships of House Valaris themselves carrying most of the Forlorn, followed by the galleys carrying the gold from the Iron Bank.

Next were the warships they had taken at Tyrosh, now equipped with new sails and manned by the men of Harry and Tatters. These would land ten miles to the north, to close off the road to Yunkai and make sure no news reached the Yellow City.

The ships of Braavos came next, they would land to the south, and carried the Dornish and what little cavalry they had. The cavalry would land first and ride far around the city until they reached the Worm River to the east. There they would blockade the river and make sure no one would be leaving that way.

The slow, but large, transport ships were divided in four squadrons, each being accompanied by one of the four squadrons of warships.

It would be the job of Valaya to inform Argyll of any last-minute plans and make sure that he and his men stood ready to do their part during the 'sale' of the Unsullied. Also, carried in the hull of the _Cinnamon Wind_ were 200 sets of Valyrian Steel full heavy armor, and assortment of shields, swords, axes and halberds.

When the _Cinnamon Wind_ was docked, they were already awaited by Argyll and his guards. "Good afternoon, My Lord," Valaya said with a small bow before handing him a sealed letter. Argyll accepted the letter and broke the seals before starting to read.

 _Hello Argyll,_

 _At the moment you are reading this, we are half a day away from Astapor. We will arrive at dawn the next morning, and we expect you to make all the arrangements on your part. Valaya can give you a full overview of the plans so make sure you listen carefully to her._

 _As for your request, it is granted, you have permission to go ahead with your plans. Just make sure to not advertise it until we have arrived._

 _Be careful and stay_ _safe_ _, we will see you soon._

 _A & G_

"Okay…," he mused softly to himself, "So tomorrow it is then." Turning to Valaya he nodded and said, "Everything is prepared, and I expect no problems between today and tomorrow. I shall inform the Good Masters that the Ladies will arrive tomorrow at dawn and leave the rest of the preparations to them."

"Yes My Lord," Valaya replied with a small nod, "Have you any orders for us?"

"Yes," Argyll immediately replied, "I would like you to come with me and tell me everything I need to know about tomorrow. Your sisters are free to do as they wish, though I would prefer they stayed on the ship for now."

"Yes My Lord," Valaya nodded again before following him towards his own ships.

XXX

The next morning Argyll, woke two hours before dawn to make all the last-minute preparations. First thing was having his soldiers dressed in their new armor, a job which took nearly an hour. The last thing he did was waking Missandei and have her bring her dress to his cabin. Once there he gave her a new dress, one that he had asked Valaya to arrange when she had left the last time. It was made of fine black linen, carried Argyll's personal sigil on it, and consisted of two layers of cloth around a mail hauberk. He had gotten the idea when he heard about the dress a friend of the twins had worn.

"I want you to wear this today, so that no matter what happens, I will know you will not be so vulnerable. I want you to carry the knife I gave you beneath the dress and under no circumstance are you to leave the company of your guards. I may not always be around, but your guards will ensure your safety."

She surprised him by hugging him tightly and saying softly, "Thank you Argyll."

He gentle stroked the girls' hair and said, "It's okay Missy," using the nickname he had given her, "I want you to be safe, and if the Old Gods are with us, then by night fall you will be. Now get dressed and meet me on deck for breakfast."

Missandei quickly nodded and grabbing the dress from the bed, she rushed towards her own room while two newly-armored Forlorn came into the cabin to help Argyll with getting dressed in his own new set of armor. To his utter befuddlement, Kharbo had pulled off a miracle. Using a method Argyll knew not, Kharbo had made him a set of armor of Valyrian Steel, not unlike the sets now worn by his soldiers, though much more elaborate and better made.

The first layer was padded linen, followed by a full-body suit of mail, dark blue in color. The armor itself consisted of a pile of loose plates that were put together to form a fully covering suit of highly decorated and blackened steel. The overarching theme of the armor was divided between flowing waves and dragon motifs. The shoulder plates where dragon skulls, as where the knees and helmet. The breastplate, greaves and vambraces where engraved with patterns of scales which flowed with a wave-line motif, as was the rest of the armor.

His sword was hung on his waist, a longsword, of blued Valyrian Steel with elegant waves serving as the cross-guard, a theme that was carried on in the two daggers he carried on his back. A blue cape trimmed with gold covered the whole armor. Lastly came the shield, a round shield made of ironwood and covered by a thin layer of Valyrian Steel and engraved with Argyll's personal sigil. Attached to the shield was a belt of black leather that could be used to carry the shield across his back.

Once he was fully suited up, Argyll picked up the dragon-shaped helmet and carrying it under his arm, climbed up to the deck where he found Missandei waiting for him at their already decked table. Surprisingly Valaya had joined them, also wearing her full armor with the bow and glaive holder standing next to her chair.

"Good morning My Lord," Valaya greeted him before inspecting his armor with a studious look which soon turned to confusion. "Where did you get that armor? That looks like Valyrian Steel."

"It is actually," he replied while sitting down and accepting the piece of bread Missandei handed him. "I hired a Qohoric blacksmith, who lives in the city here, to make me a new set of armor. This is what he came up with. I was as surprised as you are when he told me it was made of Valyrian Steel."

"If I were you My Lord, I would send a squad of Forlorn to this blacksmith's house to protect him and make sure he does not leave the city. I am very certain that the Ladies will want to speak to a man who can make Valyrian Steel."

"That is a good idea," Argyll mused between two bites of buttered bread. Snapping his fingers, he summoned a Forlorn and told the soldier, "Bring me my writing set." The Forlorn bowed and marched away immediately to fulfill his order. A minute later the soldier reappeared and handed Argyll the box.

Pulling out a piece of parchment, inkpot and quill, he quickly wrote a letter to Kharbo making up an excuse to explain the presence of the soldiers he sent him and requesting him to come to his ship as soon as possible.

Once done he rolled up the letter and tied it with a leather string before handing it to the Forlorn with the words, "Take ten men and go to the Blacksmith Kharbo Mott, hand him this letter and stay with him until you hear from me. If he decides to come here, escort him safely, if he wants to stay at his home, stay there and guard him. Under no circumstance is he to be harmed, or to be allowed to leave the city."

"Yes My Lord." The Forlorn bowed before marching off the ship with ten of his comrades in tow.

Argyll put the writing supplies back in the box and handed it to a different Forlorn who brought it back to his cabin. Looking up to the horizon, he saw the sky already starting to redden with the rising sun. "It won't be long now," he muttered to no one in particular.

And indeed it was not, three quarters of an hour later, exactly as the sun appeared over the horizon in the east, the first sails became visible in the west. Over the next hour, more and more sails kept appearing until the horizon was a mass of hundreds of sails, all coming towards them.

Half an hour after Argyll had sent off the Forlorn, they returned with Kharbo in tow who was a bit disgruntled by having to leave his workshop but was quickly placated when Argyll told him that it was for his own safety as the city would be under new management by nightfall. He did not seem that surprised by the news though, more calculating as he studied the mass of ships on the horizon.

XXX

By the time the first ships were sailing into the harbor, a crowd of thousands had gathered to witness their long-awaited arrival. The Good Masters where nowhere to be seen of course, as they would await the Ladies' arrival at the palace, where the sale would be sealed. The Plaza of Pride had been entirely cleared the day before and the Good Masters where, at that very moment, marching all of their Unsullied onto the Plaza to have them stand at attention when their honored guests arrived.

By the time the _Chain Breaker,_ the _Emerald,_ and the _Sapphire_ reached the docks, they were awaited by Argyll and Valaya, both of which were surrounded by their respective guards who had cleared the docks to such an extent that the new arrivals would have the room they need to disembark. Missandei stood obediently in Argyll's shadow with her own guards intermingled with Argyll's.

As soon as the gangplank was lowered, an excited hush went through the crowd. The first to disembark where two Forlorn carrying large standards, who halted at the bottom of the gangplank and stumped their standards with the butt on the wooden dock with a loud THUMP.

Next to appear where ten Amazons, who in turn were followed by Aurora and Gabrielle themselves. As they appeared, fully decked out in their armor, a silence fell over the harbor. One that became even more pronounced when Ivan and Francine where the next to appear. Following them again where a dozen Forlorn officers and finally another two dozen Amazons completed the group. The _Emerald_ and the _Sapphire_ in turn unloaded another 160 Forlorn, who fell in line as the main group left the docks.

At the entrance of the harbor, a small portion of Argyll's guards where waiting with the saddled horses Valaya had left behind, in addition to Argyll's own destrier. The entire group of officers mounted up, with Argyll on his own horse and Ivan using the carriage, as no horse could ever carry his weight. Missandei took the job of managing the two palfreys and kept them walking perfectly in line behind Aurora, Gabrielle and Argyll. Francine followed behind the carriage with Valaya and another Amazon flanking her. The mounted group was completed by the dozen Forlorn Officers riding behind Francine.

The standard bearers went ahead of the column and after the mounted group, came a line of dozens upon dozens of wagons, each piled high with bolted and ironbound chests. The entire line of wagons was flanked by a double line of Forlorn from beginning to end. It took about two hours before the entire column was set out, which was rather quick when you figured that no less than thirteen galleys had to be unloaded, three with gold and ten with Forlorn to guard them.

When everything was ready the group marched off towards the Plaza of Pride, leaving virtually no one behind in the harbor, as was the plan. As soon as the last stragglers had disappeared, Amazons climbed the walls to silently neutralize what few sentries remained. When the walls were taken, every galley that was unloaded left the harbor, only to be replaced by new ones which began unloading masses of Forlorn, which hurried to neutralize the non-Valyrian ships that were present in the harbor.

As the column came closer and closer to the Plaza, the streets were lined with more and more people, mainly slaves and free men, as the nobles were all waiting for them with the Good Masters. The trip went slow, and it took nearly half an hour before they reached the gate to the Plaza.

The gates where opened by four young nobles in splendid armors of hammered bronze, and when they rode through, they saw dozens more like them standing guard around the terrace where the Good Masters and the Nobles were waiting for them. A few hundred more stood around the Plaza, mostly for show apparently as their number paled in comparison to the army standing at attention in the Plaza.

22,500 Unsullied, each and every one of them equipped with identical weapons and armor, exactly as Argyll had ordered them those many weeks ago. Standing in companies of ten by ten, not a single one of them moved a muscle, all standing in the burning sun with nothing to show for it, not even a drop of sweat could be seen.

Looking to her left Aurora muttered beneath her helmet, "They sure do look impressive Argyll, you did well. Once the day is done, they are yours to command as I promised."

"Thank you My Lady," Argyll muttered softly in gratitude, knowing she could hear him none the less. Aurora nodded once before refocusing on the terrace they were approaching. When they arrived, they all dismounted while Ivan stepped out of the carriage and boy did that nearly give some of the masters a stroke.

Removing her helmet, Aurora walked forward while Gabrielle and Argyll flanked her. Francine, Ivan, and the Forlorn officers followed them up to the terrace, all removing their helmets as well. The Forlorn had been specifically selected to not have any distinctive facial features, so no one was likely to guess the region they originated from.

When they stood before the Good Masters, with Kraznys and Grazdan in the middle, Aurora made a short nod in greeting and motioned Missandei forward, keeping up the appearance that she could not speak Valyrian, though she spoke it fluently in all its accents.

Kraznys, Grazdan and the others all made a deep bow for her and Kraznys said, "Welcome to our Great City, we hope your travels here have been calm.

"Greetings gentlemen, my name is Aurora, and yes, our travels have been calm, we were blessed with calm seas on our journey. But I have come to pay you for the army you assembled for me and I must say that I am most impressed with what you have accomplished."

"That is very good to hear, we are glad that you are happy with our part. But about your part…" Grazdan began only to be interrupted by Aurora's raised hand.

"I am a woman of my word, and you implying that I am not is… disturbing. But do not fear," She motioned towards the long row of carts that had continued to roll onto the Plaza behind them. The Forlorn that accompanied the carts were now forming up in orderly ranks, ten companies of each ten deep and fifteen wide.

When the last of the 68 carts had came to a stop, Aurora snapped her fingers and ten Forlorn stepped forward, each pair picking a large chest from a cart and bringing it up to the terrace. Placing them between the Good Masters and the Valyrians, they turned them with the openings towards the Good Masters and unlocked the bolts keeping them closed. As the chests where opened upon a second snap of Aurora's fingers, she spoke again,

"Each chest holds ten-thousand gold pieces, we have one-thousand three-hundred and fifty-five chests for the agreed upon total of thirteen-million three-hundred-and-fifty-five-thousand gold pieces."

The sparkle of gold coins was so entrancing to the Good Masters that they all failed to see the small key stamped into each coin, the symbol of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Kraznys and Grazdan stepped forward past the chests, not managing to avoid looking at them greedily in passing, and stepped up to a raised platform with Aurora next to them.

Holding up a nine tailed whip with a handle of black dragonbone and golden decorations Kraznys proclaimed loudly for all the Unsullied to hear, "UNSULLIED, BEHOLD THE HARPY'S FINGERS, FROM NOW ON YOU BELONG TO HER." And with that he handed the whip to Aurora who accepted it with a stoic face before turning towards the army.

Looking down at the whip in her hands, she studied the carved dragonbone handle before looking up again. As she was facing the legions standing at attention, neither Kraznys nor Grazdan saw the black flames starting to leak from her eyes. The Valyrians before the platform did though, and all knew what this meant and slowly reached for their weapons, it would not be long now.

Gripping the whip in her right hand, she squeezed it so hard she could hear the dragonbone cracking. Slowly and deliberately she raised the whip into the air until her arm was stretched and she roared in Bastard Valyrian, "UNSULLIED, FORWARDS MARCH."

The entire army marched forward, in perfect synchronism until she roared, "HALT." She glared back once at the Good Masters, who had lost all interest in what she was doing and were now eagerly digging through the chests of gold, before turning to the army and nodding at Gabrielle, Francine and Ivan.

"UNSULLIED, STAND YOUR GROUND." This did get the attention of the Good Masters, but it was already too late. This had been the pre-arranged order and all around the Plaza, the Forlorn flew into action. They threw themselves at the 'show soldiers', cutting them down where they stood or running them through from behind when they ran.

The Masters on the Plaza looked on in horror as they saw their sons being slaughtered like pigs until their eyes came back to Aurora who now stood before them with her axe in hand. Gabrielle, Ivan, Francine, Argyll and all the others had likewise drawn their weapons as well and now they formed an impenetrable barrier, trapping the Masters against the wall of the Plaza with nowhere to go.

"Now," Aurora snarled in perfect Bastard Valyrian, "Let's see how you like it to be hunted down like animals, to watch your families being slaughtered before your eyes, to see your city burn."

At these words Kraznys and several others tried to run away. They ran toward Argyll, maybe hoping that he would consider them friends after their many weeks of cooperation and he would let them through. Their hope proved false. Bringing his sword up in flash, Argyll cut Kraznys from gut to neck and he fell in the dust at his feet, he was dead before he hit the ground.

The others where likewise cut down or gutted as the line moved forward, the Forlorn did not discriminate between men or women, both were cut down without mercy. The girls and every boy under twelve were spared, but they were forced to watch as their families where slaughtered.

The heads of the slavers were cut off and put on spikes, which were then carried throughout the city, bringing jubilations amongst the slaves. Roused by this sight, many emboldened slaves picked up the nearest weapon they could find and turned on their former masters. Within less than an hour, the entire city had descended into an orgy of blood, vengeance, and death.

When the Good Masters had all been killed, the first thing Argyll did was kneel down before Missandei who, despite her earlier bravado, was now white faced and horror struck at the massacre she had just witnessed. Drawing a small silver key from a pouch on his belt, he unlocked the collar and removed it from her neck. When he handed it to Gabrielle who stood behind him, she set her hand aflame and watched as the leather burned and the silver melted into a puddle on the floor.

Missandei looked in awe at Gabrielle's hand, where the flames had kept burning until she halted them. "What are you?" she asked full of awe.

Removing her helmet, she gave the girl a soft smile, "That's a story for another time. For now, we have something else to discuss." When Missandei gave her a curious look she continued, "Argyll has asked a favor of us, and we would like to fulfill it if that is also your wish. He has grown rather fond of you in the past months, and he would like to keep you close by. So, he asked us if he could adopt you."

Missandei's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she stared at Argyll. "Really?" Was all she could ask and when he nodded and knelt down with his arms outstretched, she flew into his arms and hugged him for dear life.

"I'll take that as a yes," Gabrielle remarked dryly before placing her helmet back on her head. Leaving the two under the protection of 20 Forlorn, she collected the others that were around and had them reload the chests with gold back on the carts. They escorted them to the harbor and reloaded them on the ships, before sending them off to sea, under heavy Ironborn escort to wait for the rest of the fleet.

From there on the Forlorn spread out through the city, trying to keep the slaves form unleashing their anger on innocent children or free men. On Aurora's orders they seized every pyramid and palace in the city to keep them from being looted, and to make them a safe haven for all who fled the carnage that now ran rampant.

XXX

Outside the city, the armies of Harry Strickland, Tatters and Oberyn sealed of all the gates, preventing anyone from leaving the city and making sure no one got out. No word of the sack left the city to reach Yunkai or Mereen, and the only sign that something was not right in the city, came the next morning, when large black smoke clouds rose from within the brick walls.

At the end of the first day, while the rioting was in full swing and the Forlorn where still out in force to keep it within acceptable levels, Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan and Francine, gathered onboard of the Chain Breaker to discuss the proceedings of the operation so far.

"Could have gone worse, but also a hell of a lot better," Aurora began while she dropped herself into a specially reinforced chair, which creaked under her weight none-the-less. "I can understand the anger of the people towards the slavers, but I think we should put a stop to it soon."

"Why," Ivan questioned a bit confused as he dropped himself into a chair that was carved from one solid piece of ironwood, "I thought we agreed to let the people out their anger, it's their good right to do so."

"It is their good right," Gabrielle replied while she and Francine sat down themselves, with a lot more care than their respective counterparts. "But we think we're about to lose control of the situation."

"What makes you say that?" Francine asked in confusion. "I mean yea sure, the streets are littered with bodies from the Plaza of Pride, to each of the city gates. But we anticipated that."

"Because some of the slaves have used their newfound bravery to turn to harming the children of the slavers," Aurora replied, "Something I tried to discourage by having ten former slaves beheaded when I caught them gang-raping a ten your old girl."

"What," Francine asked shocked.

"Yea," Gabrielle said with a frown. "It would seem that we might have slightly underestimated the vindictiveness of these people. Maybe the past few thousand years have made us forget about the hardships these people have suffered firsthand for all their lives."

"Could be," Ivan muttered, "I just did the last patrol and I have to say, you might be right. It's starting to look a lot like Armageddon out there. I'm not going to say do this or do that, that's your responsibility. But I will say this, if we are going to intervene, we better do it fast, and we do it hard. Those people out there are acting like animals, because they believe we are going to let them do it and protect them."

"So, what do we do?" Francine asked as both Aurora and Gabrielle sat with their heads in their hands.

Aurora just shook her head before snapping her fingers. The nearest Forlorn immediately sprung to attention and marched over to her chair. Slamming his right fist against his breastplate before stretching it out before his chest, the soldier stood at attention, waiting for orders.

"Fetch me Lord General Argyll and Commander Valaya. I want them here ASAP."

The Forlorn saluted her again and said, "Yes Ma'am," before marching off in a hurry. He didn't have to go far, Argyll's ships where only four to the right, so the requested two walked on the deck not five minutes later.

Both made a short bow to the high command before waiting patiently. By the mood that hung between the four on the deck, they could tell that something was not going as planned.

"We need to stop the rampage," Gabrielle finally said. "The former slaves are getting out of control and we can't allow that."

"So, what do you want to do about it?" Argyll asked, "I have seen how the slavers treated them, their anger is more than justified."

"It is," Aurora replied, "but they are going too far, so we've had to make a decision." She looked at the other three and after each one gave her a nod, she hardened her own face and stood up. "Lord General, I want you to take the Unsullied and put them to the test. As of right now, a curfew is in effect. We want you wipe the streets clean and to keep them that way.

You march the Unsullied in companies into the city, have them order everyone back to their houses and break up any resistance no matter from who it comes. If needs to, they are allowed to use any kind of force except lethal, to get this situation under control."

Argyll had to swallow a little at hearing this order, but he had received a direct command, and he would see it done. "Yes Ma'am," as he turned around though, he was called back by Gabrielle.

"Argyll," when he looked back she said softly, "We know this is not easy for you, neither is it for us to order you to do this, but we have no choice. If we let the situation get further out of hand, we might lose control of the city. Make it known that they have had their shot at vengeance, but that vengeance has now come to an end. It is time for order to return."

Argyll nodded with a grim smile before turning around and walking off of the ship towards the pyramid that once belonged to Kraznys but was now used as barracks for the Unsullied.

XXX

Exactly how many people were killed during the sack, or the night after it no one ever knew, but when Aurora and Gabrielle led their forces on a final sweep through the city, the next day, the carnage was terrible to behold.

Palaces and pyramids were plundered warehouses were broken open and pillaged, shops were ransacked and all across the city, the wailing of women and children could be heard. As they rode through the city, Aurora and Gabrielle realized that they would not be getting much reinforcements for the Forlorn from Astapor.

The only thing of note the four high commanders did the next day was organize the feeding of the city, before withdrawing to the Chain Breaker and summoning both Argyll, and the blacksmith Kharbo Mott. When the two men arrived, the later looked extremely ill at ease and feared that after seeing the quality of Argyll's armors and weapons, he would be killed or tortured for the secrets of his craft.

"You need not fear us blacksmith," Gabrielle said as she saw his nervousness. "We do not intend to do you harm, we merely want to know how you discovered the secret of Valyrian Steel?"

"I… I… I don't… don't… know the… the secret." This reply led to some very confused looks from the four Valyrians before him and a surprised grunt from Argyll.

"But," Aurora began before stopping and starting again. "But if you don't know the secret then how do you explain Argyll's armor?"

"I.. I found it." He finally said after some very nervous shuffling.

"You found it?" Aurora said dumbfounded.

"Yea." He nodded, before adding, "Well not in this shape, but I found a cache of Valyrian Steel armor during my travels from Qohor to here in Slaver's Bay."

"Exactly where did you find this cache?" Francine inquired as she went to stand next to Aurora.

"In a secret cellar of a destroyed fortress in the ruined city of Bhorash."

"And how much Valyrian Steel was there in this 'cellar' of yours?" Ivan grumbled as he stood up and stood behind the three ladies, towering over them and Kharbo.

His eyes going wide with fear, Kharbo muttered, "N…n….not much. H… h.. he… he's w…wearing everything."

"Hmm," Gabrielle mused, "That's a pity, and were there no swords?"

"Just one," Kharbo replied a bit calmer, realizing that he might not be harmed after all. "Everything I made for him I found there. I just reworked the armor and the shield and made a new cross guard and handles for the sword and the daggers."

"To bad," Aurora sighed, "It would have been nice to have _another_ blacksmith who had discovered the secret of making Valyrian Steel."

"Wait what?" Kharbo now uttered in confusion. "You mean that you have someone who knows how to make Valyrian Steel?"

"We do yes," Gabrielle answered with a grin. "And if you'd like, we would offer you a job as the assistant of the Forge Master and…."

"I'll take it," Kharbo jumped at the opportunity, eager to learn what every smith in Qohor would sacrifice their entire family to know.

The Forge Master was the title that had been bestowed on Boltrock by his underlings and he had taken a liking to it.

"HI HI HI," the four Valyrians grinned at his enthusiasm. Before Gabrielle told him. "That is good to know, we will need every blacksmith we can get our hands on. So, if you have any family members or friends who would like to learn from the Master, send them a letter and invite them to join you in Valyria."

At this Kharbo's eyes went wide again. "To Valyria?" he asked dumbfounded. "That, that would be amazing."

"So that's settled then?" Ivan grumbled. "Good, then I'm off. See if Ironhide and I can't find something to wreck, I feel the need to smash something."

"Have fun Sweetie," Francine blew her husband a kiss before he marched off the gangplank.

XXX

During the next two weeks, the city was emptied of everything of value they could find, food, weapons, gold, stores of leather, raw building supplies like timber and paint, and even the metal reinforcements was ransacked from the buildings, causing some to collapse. When the city was fully stripped, all of the survivors were rounded up. Nearly a hundred-and-fifty-thousand slaves were freed, while some twenty-five-thousand free men lost everything they had.

About fifteen-hundred warrior women were amongst those set free, and without an exception, they all swore themselves to their cause. They would be sent back to Valyria to recover, rest, and to be re-outfitted before they would join the ranks of the Amazons.

Of the nobility and the slavers, only a few dozen women and children remained alive, all others had been savagely butchered by the rampaging slaves.

All were gathered outside the walls where Aurora spoke to them, using a hundred Forlorn with makeshift megaphones made of rolled sheets of brass to repeat her words so all would hear them.

"All of you have lost much in your lives. Whether it was years ago, or in the past two weeks. It does not make you better or worse than anyone else in this world. But it does mean that you have a choice. And your choice is this; you can leave, to wherever you wish to go, or you can come back to our home. To the newly resurrected kingdom of Valyria. There you will all have a chance at a new and better life, regardless of what your station might have been in this city. The choice you do not have, is remaining in this city for it will be destroyed."

And to prove her words, Gabrielle rose from behind the city in dragon form, with Francine sitting on her back to keep up appearances. The gigantic blue and silver dragon circled high above the crowd twice before diving down and opening her maw. A massive stream of blue fire was spewed forth, torching the city. For nearly an hour Gabrielle circled the city, unleashing so much fire that eventually the pyramids and the walls melted down. The fire storm raged for days and by the time it finally burned itself out, the city had been reduced to ashes and dust.

All the ships in the harbor that belonged to one of the slaver cities had been seized, while the others were allowed to go free. This added another 200 ships to their fleet, raising it to over 2,000 vessels. After the burning of the city, everyone from the city went on board, not a single person had refused the offer to get a chance of living in the mythical land of Valyria. Three quarters of the fleet set sail after everyone was on board, the ones that stayed behind would carry the supplies and siege engines they would be needing to take the rest of Slaver's Bay. The army would march the 300 miles over land towards Yunkai, which would undoubtedly have now heard about the destruction of Astapor.

With the addition of the Unsullied and after the roughly 500 men they lost trying to get the city back in line, their land army now numbered some 50,000 infantry. After they 'liberated' over 5,000 horses from Astapor, they now also had some 6,000 cavalry, 1,500 of which were mounted archers in the form of the Amazons. With this army in tow, Aurora and Gabrielle set out for the twenty-day march towards Yunkai, where they would no-doubted be awaited.

Author's note:

And there is the first part of the Slaver's Bay campaign. I hope you all liked my version of the sack of Astapor and hopefully I'll see you all soon with the battle for Yunkai.

MM

p.s. to prevent any mistakes, the official salute for the Valyrian army is NOT the Nazi salute, but the one used by the Roman soldiers in the HBO series of Rome.


	34. Chapter 34

This chapter contains a small lemon.

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 34

The march to Yunkai was long, and hard for those not used to marching in these temperatures. A surprising discovery though, was that those wearing the rune-engraved Valyrian Steel armor were not bothered by the heat, nor did the, lighter than normal steel, wear them down nearly as much as one would have expected from full heavy plate. A study of the runes by Francine, using a very old and according to her, very boring book she had borrowed from Boltrock before they left, revealed that the runes were in fact spells meant to aid the wearer of the armor. Protecting them from the influences of the environment they found themselves in and stopping the armor from wearing them out.

Utilizing this knowledge Aurora had quickly ordered the runes to be inscribed on every suit of armor that did not already carry them. It required Aurora, Gabrielle, Francine, or Ivan to 'empower' the runes after they were inscribed by activating them with a drop of their blood, but that was a small price to pay for the benefits it offered to their soldiers.

In the end it delayed their arrival in Yunkai by a full week, but they were well supplied, and the extra time allowed them to 'liberate' almost two dozen coastal towns and villages. They send another fifteen-thousand liberated slaves and man, women and children back to Valyria, while adding some eight hundred men to the ranks of the Forlorn.

XXX

By the time they were only a day from Yunkai, their scouts had reported that the city was ready for them. Two sellsword companies had been hired, adding more seasoned defenders to the city's garrison which they already estimated to be some 20,000 soldiers. More worrying than the garrison though, was that unlike with Astapor the walls of Yunkai were intact and now that they were manned properly, they would no doubt prove a challenge to most hostile armies. But the Valyrians were not most armies and Aurora and Gabrielle had no intention of having their men storm the well defended walls, which would inflict horrendous casualties to their forces.

When they made camp that night, Aurora and Gabrielle summoned their war council to discuss their plans for taking the city. "There are two sellsword companies in Yunkai," Valaya reported, as head of the scouts during the campaign, she had spent most of the march from Astapor riding between a small scout camp near Yunkai and the main army.

"We have seen two different banners on the walls, one of a harpy holding a baby, and the other of a ruined tower." Everyone looked towards Harry and Tatters for some explanation as they were considered the local experts on the subject of sellswords.

"That first one is the Harpy's Bastards, while the second is from the Sons of Ghiscar. Both are made up of locals, so I do not think that there is a big chance we'll be able to buy off their contract. Also, we are coming to destroy their very culture, so they won't join us… at least not voluntarily." That last part he added with a look at the entrance where four Forlorn stood guard.

"Hmm," Francine mused softly before asking, "How many soldiers do they have combined?"

"Between four- and five-thousand," came the reply from Tatters. "Mostly lock-step infantry, a few dozen light cavalry and maybe two-hundred archers." Another silence fell around the table for a few minutes as they all thought about the issue.

"So, we'll have to either lure them out of the city and then surround them, or we must crush them on the walls." Gabrielle muttered to sum it up.

"If we muster our army before the gates and then offer them free passage to leave the city, do you think they will accept?" Ivan asked with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Possibly," Tatters replied. "if their commanders haven't changed. Last time I heard about them they were both led by rather self-serving individuals. If we give them the chance to run with their hide intact, they might take it if the other option is annihilation."

"Very well," Aurora said after a few minutes of further deliberation. "I'll send a few envoys ahead to offer them terms of surrender." Turning towards Ivan and Francine who sat next to her she added, "Gather the cavalry and 6,000 Unsullied. March ahead through the night and lay an ambush for them if they decide to abandon the city. They either surrender or they die, but no one get's away alive. We cannot risk them fleeing this battle only to reinforce the armies of Mereen, that will be a tough enough battle as it is, we don't have to send them any more soldiers."

"Of course," Ivan nodded immediately while Harry, Tatters and Oberyn looked a little surprised.

"Why offer them free passage if you're just going to ambush them later on?" Oberyn questioned a little angrily. "Where is the honor in that?"

He was met with five incredulous looks and a tense silence that lasted for nearly a minute before it was broken by Aurora, who spoke with a scowl. "Seriously Oberyn, you talk about honor. I heard what happened with Edgar Yronwood, where was the honor with that."

This effectively shut his objections and Aurora continued on a firm tone, "Let me explain a few things about my views on honor. Honor is all nice and good in times of peace, or when the nobles in Westeros play at war in tournaments and melees. But when you are in a real war, on a real field of battle, ploughing through rivers of blood, mud, and piles of corpses, there is no place for honor in your mind. Honor is nothing but an excuse for knights to act like animals during a tourney. For most men, honor is an easy way to get yourself killed if you are unprepared."

Ivan took the word next and said, "Why do you think that the pit-fighters are such fearsome combatants? They fight for only one thing, and that is to _walk_ out of that arena, instead of being _dragged._ A man that fights for his life, will fight much harder than a man fighting for honor or gold. In the pits of Mereen I have fought and killed good men who's only fault lay in being born or captured as a slave. Do you think they fought for the honor of their masters? Hell no, they fought to survive."

This two-way tirade drove home the point of how their new commanders thought about honor, so no further objections were made against the plan.

During all this Argyll had been watching most closely as he was trying to create for himself an overview of the character of each of the members of the military council he had met so far. It wasn't an easy task, as some of them like Oberyn where so different from one moment to the next, that you would almost think they were two different people.

His own position as Lord General, meant that the only ones he had to listen to were the Ladies and Ivan, but he still made an effort to make the others feel as if they were taken serious. During the first week he had spoken extensively with all three and found that they all had some things in common, making it easy to talk with them and to devise battle plans and strategies.

"I will lead the Unsullied in the ambush," He finally spoke up after the others had said their piece. "I have been working on some new battle lines and marching formations with them and I want to test them out in a somewhat controlled combat scenario, with your permission." That last part he added mostly out of courtesy as the Unsullied were all under his command, so he could do as he pleased were they were concerned.

"Very good," Ivan nodded in agreement. "If you have them form up in formation to draw their attention and block their route to Mereen, then I'll take the cavalry and hit them from the rear. We'll take them between hammer and anvil and give them the choice of whether the hammer will fall or not. The Amazons will take up positions on your sides, to make sure they don't strong-arm their way into your flanks."

Argyll nodded in understanding and Ivan looked up at the position of the sun before adding, "It is now around 18:00, so have your men rest up and make sure they eat, we leave at midnight. With some luck we can pull a full night march and take up positions around the main road between Yunkai and Mereen, before the sun rises and we risk them noticing us marching past."

Everyone accepted this plan and the meeting was closed with everyone going to their assigned duties.

At midnight, a long column of Unsullied, mounted Forlorn and Amazons left the main bulk of the army. They marched quickly but silently and just before the rising sun crept over the horizon, they arrived at a suitable spot to lay their ambush. As their soldiers took up their positions, Ivan, Francine and Argyll sat atop their mounts and watched out over the Yellow walls of Yunkai.

About an hour before noon, the blaring of copper trumpets could be heard from the distance and they all knew what it meant, the Ladies had arrived at the city. Soon they would find out whether their plan would unfold as planned.

XXX

At daybreak, the morning after Ivan and his forces had marched off, Aurora sent four Forlorn to accompany the knight who had volunteered to be their messenger, a certain Aron Santagar. In a leather satchel Ser Aron had three sealed letters, one for the Wise Masters of Yunkai, and one each for the commanders of the two sellsword companies.

After wishing him luck, the military council watched him leave before beginning the task of organizing their men for the final few miles that separated them from the Yellow City. Considering that most of the army was made up of Forlorn and Unsullied, this was an easy task and took far less time than one would expect for an army of that size.

The road was wide and well maintained, so the soldiers marched over it in their companies, ten abreast and fifteen rows per company. The Forlorn were the first to march off, with two thousand Unsullied on both flanks to prevent the main column from being ambushed, and the rest of the Unsullied behind them. The sellswords under Harry and Tatters marched after the Unsullied and the Dornish made up the rear. The Dornish were essentially civilian volunteers, this was only their first campaign, and the loses they had taken at Tyrosh had made Aurora and Gabrielle wary of exposing them to much before they could receive proper training.

Roughly an hour before noon, the vanguard reached the open plain before Yunkai's gates and the army took up their battle lines. With the same formation as they had marched in, the Forlorn on the front lines, the sellswords in the middle, Unsullied on the flanks and the Dornish in reserve.

They didn't have to wait long for a reply, as before the army had fully formed up, the gates opened and under a white banner, the Harpy's Bastards and the Sons of Ghiscar began their exodus, under the dismaying cries of the garrison and the people of the city.

Some 4,800 sellswords marched out of the city, their weapons stowed away, and the sand-colored cloaks drawn closed around their leather armor with bronze discs. A few dozen horsemen accompanied them, probably the commanders and their closest officers. A train of overburdened mules and donkeys was brought along, each packed with large bags and baskets.

After the sellswords had all moved off in the direction of Mereen, right in the path of where Ivan's forces were now laying in ambush, Ser Aron returned, with his four guards and a delegation from the Wise Masters.

The delegate from Yunkai was introduced as Gorzhak mo Eraz, a young noble whose father, according to himself, held great influence within the Wise Masters.

"Greetings," he said politely as he made a bow to Aurora and Gabrielle who waited at the head of the army, sat on two massive black destriers, with a guard of Forlorn around them. "I have been sent by the Wise Masters of Yunkai to present you with a gift. He motioned with his arms to a group of people who had followed him.

Eight large Summer Islanders stepped forward, each with oiled bodies and dressed only in white loincloths, who carried four large iron-bound chests. They placed the chests before Aurora and Gabrielle and opened them, revealing a glimmer of gold and jewels, gemstones and delicate silverwork. As the Summer Islanders stepped back, a second group stepped forward.

This group was made up of ten girls and young women, between 14 and 18 name days old, and four boys, around 16 in age. The boys were dressed in linen, yellow and red in color, and wore make-up to make them look more appealing, at least that was what they thought the purpose of it was.

The girls were all dressed in nearly transparent silk skirts that left very little to the imagination, and short silk vests, which barely covered their nipples, leaving everything in between on display. Their hair ranged from Dornish black to Valyrian silver, and despite their disgust at the offer, neither of the Ladies could deny that they looked very appealing.

"A humble gift for you, from the Wise Masters of the great city of Yunkai," Gorzhak continued, "I guarantee you that the boys are well endowed and well trained to satisfy every need. Each of the girls has mastered the way of the seven sighs, and the sixteen seats of pleasure, so I'm sure you and your commanders will be very pleased by what they can do."

With an expectant look on his face, Gorzhak looked at the helmet slits to catch a glimpse of the faces of the two mysterious figures. When finally, the helmets were removed, he was shocked by the long silken hair and elegant faces that looked at him with an expression of utter disgust and loathing.

"Seize him," Aurora said coldly and the four Forlorn who had accompanied Ser Aron, sprung into action and had Gorzhak on his knees with a sword at his throat before he could even blink. The few young nobles Gorzhak had brought to guard him were kept at bay by a thicket of spears and swords that surrounded them.

Looking behind them, to the rear of the army, she allowed a small grin to cross her face as she saw the few trebuchets they had brought by ship from Astapor. Grabbing the small black horn from her belt, she blew a signal and the mules pulling the catapults were immediately prodded by their handlers to quickly move them to the front of the army.

Once they had arrived, Gorzhak and each of his six guards were bound hands and feet in a fetal position. Next the 'improvised ammunition' was placed into the chain nets on the trebuchets' throwing arms.

Snapping her fingers, a Forlorn hurried towards her with a writing set followed by a second who carried a Dragonbone bow and a quiver of arrows. She quickly wrote a note, stating that they had five minutes to surrender and open the gates. If they refused, then Gorzhak and his fellows would be the first to die. She handed the writing set back to the Forlorn that had carried it, and then tied the note around an arrow, which was held up by the second Forlorn.

Taking a hold of the bow as well, she gave her horse the spurs until she was within 300 yards of the walls. Knocking the arrow, she took careful aim and then let go. She followed the arrow with her eyes until it embedded itself into the chest of a dark-skinned man dressed in a tokar. Turning around she silently began to count as her horse walked back to their own ranks.

For the first four minutes nothing happened, until a horn sounded on the walls, followed by a cloud of crossbow bolts that soared through the sky and landed some 300 yards before their frontline.

Grinning darkly at Gorzhak, Aurora said in bastard Valyrian, " _It would seem your father does not care about you."_ Giving a second blast with the horn, the trebuchets were moved to just before the field of crossbow bolts that stuck from the ground. Once there, a Forlorn poured oil over the screaming young nobles.

At a nod from Aurora, the oil was ignited, and the trebuchets unleashed. Seven WHOOSH's sounded as the screaming and burning load was unleashed. One slammed into the gates, two flew over the walls, and the other four hit the walls, leaving bloody smears behind on the yellow brick.

Having already decided against a lengthy siege, Aurora ordered the trebuchets back to their rear lines while she and Gabrielle drove their horses back through their army until they were out of sight from the walls. there they handed their horses to two waiting Forlorn who quickly rode them away to not frighten the animals.

Turning into their dragon forms, Aurora and Gabrielle turned towards the city and took a short running start before unfolding their wings and flapping furiously to gain altitude. Once they were about a mile up, they circled over the city while they studied their defenses. It would appear that their estimate of 20,000 defenders was grossly overestimated, as barely 12,000 men manned the walls with spears, swords and crossbows.

Sharing a quick mid-flight 'lick', the two dragons split up, each flew to one end of the city, Aurora eastwards and Gabrielle westwards. As they flew they could see the battle going on at the other end of the city, it would appear that the sellswords had chosen to fight after all.

Once they were in position they both folded their wings and dove downward. Barely 300 yards above the ground they spread their wings and angled on a course to cover the walls. Trying to reconcile themselves with the fact that a part of the soldiers on the walls would be slaves, they opened their maws and bathed the many towers in a torrent of dragon fire.

They tried to spare the walls and the soldiers upon them, focusing on the heavy weapons, ballistae and catapults that could wreak havoc if used against their army. For the ordinary soldiers on the walls, both slaves and freemen, the walls of flames coming towards them was more than enough to make them panic and they fled from the walls in their hundreds. When they met in the middle, Gabrielle flew upwards while Aurora folded her wings and dropped down, crashing her massive body onto the gatehouse, and utterly destroyed it.

Swinging her tail and slashing with her claws, she demolished the defenses. Throwing massive blocks of stone around as if they were pebbles, she ignored the few crossbow bolts that ricocheted harmlessly off of her armored skin as she tore apart the remains of the gatehouse. The gates themselves, standing 30 feet high and made of ironwood, were reduced to mere kindling as she bathed them in red flames. Soon only rubble remained of the gatehouse, which was swiftly brushed aside by her tail as she made her way into the city.

XXX

Ivan had looked and waited impatiently for any sign of the sellswords, it had been agreed that he would wait until the dragons attacked. If the sellswords had not appeared by then he would mount an assault on the northern part of the city, trying to catch the defenders unawares. It was not necessary to storm the walls though, as shortly after the army arrived at noon, he spotted the first riders coming from the far side of the city walls. A large group of mainly infantry followed them and they made haste to get away from the city as fast as they could.

As hoped, they took the shortest way to Mereen, which just happens to be the road around which they had laid their ambush, so they walked straight into it.

Sitting atop Ironhide, Ivan waited patiently until the entire group had entered the stretch of road his forces had surrounded. As the last man entered, he snapped his fingers at a mounted Forlorn next to him who then waved a banner to signal that the trap was to be sprung now. When a banner waved back on the other side of the road, Ivan slowly raised his mace and besides him, three Forlorn raised large ox-horns to their mouths and blew a long low tone.

Some 2 miles ahead on the road, about 500 yards before the first shuffling and disheartened sellswords, two columns of Unsullied quickly marched up the road. They met in the middle and closed it off, while on both sides of the road triple lines of Unsullied sprung up from their hiding places amongst the shrubbery.

Panic quickly spread throughout the sellswords and the commanders rode through the front where they were met by Argyll mounted on his white destrier.

"What is the meaning of this," one of the commanders yelled in bastard Valyrian, outrage visible on his face. "We were promised safe passage from the city. Your commanders promised it."

"And you have been given safe passage from the city," Argyll replied calmly. "Nothing was said about what would happen after you left the city. Now lay down your weapons and surrender, or you will regret it." As he finished saying this the amazons rode into view, divided around both sides and on the road itself. All had arrows knocked and they drew back on the bowstrings.

It was clear that the sellswords were well trained, as at a signal from their commanders, they closed ranks, formed shield walls and made a reasonable attempt at creating turtle-formations of some 150 men each.

"Guess that's a no," Argyll muttered softly to himself before yelling, "FORMATIONS!" As one the Unsullied locked their own shields and shoved their spears outwards, forming an unbroken line around the enemy, three deep and two-thousand wide in a half ellipse shape.

At the same time Francine shouted, "LOOSE ARROWS," and all of the Amazons let their arrows fly. From all sides the arrows joined into a cloud that rained down on the sellsword formations. Most got stuck in the shields, but the use of round shields by the sellswords meant that there were holes, and plenty of arrows found their targets through those gaps. Cries of pain could be heard, and some gaps fell in the formations, though they were quickly closed up again.

Trying to stay in formation, the units of sellswords tried a retreat back to the city, only to find their way blocked. Ivan had moved his cavalry in to block off their escape while they were distracted by Argyll and Francine. He rode ahead of the lines of horses and armored men, approaching the quivering sellswords. As he was sitting on Ironhide, Ivan towered out over everyone and some of the sellswords were literally shaking as he approached them.

"LAST CHANCE," he roared, breaking the silence his approach had caused. "SURRENDER NOW… OR DIE." Raising his mace into the sky, he activated the mechanism to make the spikes jump out and gave it a few menacing test swings.

When silence remained, he growled at the sellswords beneath his helmets and roared again, "TIME'S UP." Kicking Ironhide in the sides, the Juggernaut started to run forward. The total weight of more than 11,000 pounds crashing down with each step shook the ground and the spears waiting to meet him started to shake.

"ROOOOAAAAAAAHHHHRRR!" He yelled as Ironhide crashed into the shield wall of the nearest unit, ignoring the spears that bounced harmlessly from his armor. The massive juggernaut smashed through, trampling sellswords as he went, gouging through bronze sewn leather tunics left and right with his horns. Meanwhile Ivan swung his mace left and right, the spiked head tearing open skulls or simply sending them flying. Each swing killed multiple sellswords and for the first time ever, the Demon of Valyria was unleashed in a real battle.

Close on his heels, the Forlorn smashed through the gap he had struck, riding down the ones he could not reach or who had started to flee. With brutal efficiency, the Forlorn hacked and smashed left and right with swords, maces and axes. The 're-programming' by Aurora and Gabrielle had given them an extensive knowledge about what were killing blows, so none were left behind alive.

The first turtle formation was gone in less than two minutes, leaving 150 mangled corpses behind, and Ironhide barreled on towards the next one, the Forlorn hot on his flanks. The next three companies went the exact same way, Ironhide smashed into their frontlines, breaking open the shield walls and crushing men as he went on. The Forlorn finished off what he and Ivan left behind, hunting down fleeing men and trampling the wounded beneath their horses.

By the time they reached the fifth company, panic had spread throughout the sellsword ranks. Men were fleeing everywhere now, throwing themselves against the Unsullied lines, which threw them back and slaughtered them. As the cavalry drove them into Unsullied's spears, Francine's amazons kept raining down arrows upon the sellswords, slaughtering scores of them with black-feathered death.

As Argyll looked at the slaughter going on, he watched in satisfaction at the systematic stabbing of the Unsullied spears, the continued rain of arrows, and the unstoppable charge of a completely fearless cavalry attack. 'This'… he thought grimly to himself, 'This is not war, this is organized slaughter." If the ladies and their two friends could turn a bunch of slaves, pirates, and misfits into such formidable ranks of soldiers in only a few months, he could not wait to see the army they could build when they finally had the time to do so.

The massacre lasted barely half an hour, leaving a field of corpses and slain pack-animals. When the butcher's bill was made up, it was pleasingly small. Thirty-seven Forlorn, eighty-three horses, and sixteen Unsullied. They plundered the dead of all possessions, food, money, metal, meat, everything they could use was stripped away before they piled the corpses and set them aflame. When that was done with, they turned their gaze towards the city, where thick smoke clouds were already drifting above the walls.

XXX

As Aurora moved into the city, her massive tail cleared away the rubble, leaving the way open for the tens-of-thousands who had began storming towards the city when she had dropped on the gatehouse. As the army streamed into the city, the sack went much smoother than it had been in Astapor. It took them only till nightfall to get complete control of the city, and to start the process of seeking out the slavers and bringing them into the ranks of the Forlorn.

They stayed in Yunkai for three weeks, waiting only for their fleet to return from Valyria so the liberated slaves and free citizens could be loaded up and brought to their new homeland. More than two-hundred-thousand slaves were set free, including nearly four thousand from Kayakayanaya. Fifty-thousand free men who lost their homes went with them, men, women and children.

Near ten-thousand men were added to the ranks of the Forlorn, while 300 ships were confiscated and joined to their fleet. Using the stacks of armor that filled the hulls of their fleet upon its return, they outfitted the ten-thousand in Valyrian armor. The horse armors that had also been brought were used to armor their cavalry, now having grown to some eight-thousand melee cavalry in addition to the fifteen hundred mounted archers.

With the city cleared of humans, animals, valuables and every useful thing they could find, Aurora and Gabrielle flew up once more to burn it to the ground. The liberated slaves and free men looked on in awe as the two massive creatures of legend torched their great city until the walls and pyramids melted and crashed under their weight when the wooden beams keeping them together turned to ashes.

With the smoke clouds from Yunkai rising into the sky, the Valyrians mustered their armies and prepared for the last leg of their journey, Mereen. The scouts they had sent out immediately after their capture of Yunkai, returned with bad news. Mereen had summoned its legions and began training more. They were preparing for a siege, and if Varys' estimation was correct that Slaver's Bay as a whole could muster some 90,000 trained soldiers, the odds were not entirely in their favor.

22,000 Unsullied had joined them, and they had killed another 15,000 soldiers, so roughly a third of the total strength of Slaver's Bay. This left Mereen with some 50,000 trained soldiers, and a civil population of some 150,000 free men to draw militia from. This force, in addition to the location and the immense strength of the walls of Mereen, left them with not much choice but to siege the city. During their short stay and from Ivan's information, they had gathered that the siege engines on the walls of Mereen had not been neglected and could shoot them down if they tried to burn down the walls. A risk they were not willing to take. So, they had to draw them out somehow.

Making a full count of their armies, they came to 9,500 cavalry, 23,000 Unsullied, 15,000 former sellswords, 4,500 Dornish and some 22,000 Forlorn. With these odds they stood a good chance at facing the armies of Mereen, if they got there in time.

The news the scouts had brought had not only told about the preparations of Mereen though. They had reported a dust cloud visible on the open plains to the north, the plains that bordered on the Dothraki Sea. This could mean only one thing, a Dothraki Khalasar was heading for Mereen, and if they got to the city before they did, their mounted warriors could easily tip the scales back into the slaver's favor.

The scouts had estimated that the khalasar was only a week from Mereen, when they had been there, which was two days ago. It would take the Valyrians at least four days to reach the city, leaving them only an uncomfortable small window in which to take the city.

At an emergency meeting of the military council, several plans were made and subsequently discarded to counter the threat posed by a Dothraki khalasar of as of yet unknown strength. After more than an hour of heated debates, Ivan slammed his fist onto the wooden table and called for attention.

"There is one more option available to us, but it will require speed and guts." This raised the attention of the other members and Ivan continued, "If we can smuggle a force into the city before they close the gates, we could have them hide until our arrival. Once we begin the assault on the walls, they will take advantage of the relocation of most guards to the walls, by breaking open the fighting pits and freeing the slaves therein. If the pit fighters join us, and they will if the 'Demon of Daznak' calls for them, we have a force of several thousand seasoned fighters within Mereen's walls.

If they can reach the gates and open them for our forces, we can stream into the city before the khalasar arrives and then fight the Dothraki from atop Mereen's walls."

"That is an interesting proposition, but how many men would it require and who do we put in charge because you, Ivan, are too well known there and too big to mingle in the city unnoticed."

Looking around the table it was silent until Oberyn said with a glint in his eyes, "It would be my pleasure to lead the force. I have been in Mereen before and I have visited the fighting pits, so I know where to go."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle looked interested and after getting agreement from everyone else, Aurora turned to him and asked, "How would you smuggle a force into the city?"

"Easy," Oberyn replied with a careless shrug. "We recruit the force from the men we recruited from Yunkai. Dress them in torn and dirty tokars and rough them up a bit before having them ride towards Mereen with all haste. Have them dismount a few miles from the walls and sent the horses back while they run to the walls in panic."

"Hiding in full sight," Gabrielle muttered softly while a smile spread on her face, "I like it. I think we can smuggle some five or six hundred men into the city that way. Once inside they'll have to disappear, but that will work I think. The point is smuggling in weapons."

"We don't need to," Ivan interjected before turning towards Oberyn. "Once inside, the first pit you go to is Daznak's. I still have friends there and I told them to be ready for trouble if the city ever got under siege. They will be waiting for a signal to strike, and the training grounds and pit have enough weapons to arm several hundred men. Take that pit first, and the fighters there will join you in taking over the other pits."

"That is a good idea," Oberyn agreed with a small nod. "The only remaining hiccup I can see in the plan is this. What do we do if we get into the city, but find the Dothraki arrive before you do?"

"If that should be the case…," Aurora began before hesitating a bit and sharing looks with both Gabrielle and Ivan, "if they do, then you stay put and keep yourselves hidden until we have dealt with the Dothraki. From everything we have learned, the Dothraki don't do sieges, they prefer an open battlefield where they can use their horses to the greatest effect. We will keep sending out our scouts to keep an eye on their progress and if they do arrive before we do, then here is what we are going to do about it…."

XXX

When Oberyn left the command tent two hours later, he could not suppress a small shiver running down his spine. From what Francine had reported about the preparations of Mereen and now with the possibility of having to face a Khalasar in open battle, the odds were not exactly optimistic, unless they could get things to play out exactly as they had just planned them out.

After making his way towards his tent, he noticed the smirks of the faces of the two guards standing watch outside it. "What's up with you two?" The two men were some of the only 'professional' soldiers he had brought, so their behavior was a bit unexpected.

"You have a visitor my prince." The left guard said with a smile as he and his colleague held open the overhang for him. Rolling his eyes, he entered the tent and closed the overhang behind him. Looking around him his eyes were immediately and inevitably drawn to such a most delightful sight he had rarely seen before.

A young woman, around twenty years old sat seductively posed on his field bed. Her long black hair was elegantly curled, and her brown eyes looked sultry at him from above the sheer silk veil that covered the lower half of her face. "Good afternoon my prince," her voice was soft and held a little purr to it that Oberyn found very arousing. But what surprised him was that she spoke fluently in the common tongue and had a very distinct Dornish accent.

Folding his hands before his chest, Oberyn looked the unknown women up and down until he recognized her. She was one of the slaves that had been 'given' to them before the sack of Yunkai. She had caught his eye back then but afterwards she had vanished in the chaos and his mind had quickly moved on to more pressing things. "And just who might you be my most delectable little flower."

XXX Lemon ahead XXX

She stood up from the bed and slowly lowered her silk vest, showing Oberyn her bare chest. Her skin was lightly bronzed, and her nipples looked incredibly inviting on her generous breasts. "Who would you want me to be my prince?" Her smile grew as she looked at Oberyn's pants and saw the distinct bulge. "Or should I say, _where_ do you want me my prince?"

Letting a roguish grin take over his face, Oberyn took off his shirt and said, "Right there is just perfect love." He quickly strode over to her and after ripping of the veil, he passionately kissed her while groping her shapely arse. Her own hands traveled over his torso, wandering downwards until they reached his pants. She deftly loosened the belt and when his pants dropped, she grasped his cock with her extremely talented fingers and went to work.

As Oberyn felt a very pleasurable shiver run down his spine, the young women withdrew her lips from his and slowly and sensually started to kiss her way down his body. Giving a lick to both his nipples she then gently bit them before moving on. All the while keeping up the massage of his manhood.

After nearly a minute of slowly moving down, she reached his crotch and took the tip of his cock into her mouth. Sucking it into her mouth, she gently massaged it with her tongue, while moving her hands from his cock to his balls. "Uhhh, gods you're good at this." Oberyn moaned as his endurance, which he had thought quite outstanding, was broken down in mere minutes.

"If you… if you keep this up…. oh gods here it comes." Oberyn literally shook as he pumped his seed down the woman's throat, who swallowed it without complaint before licking his cock clean. As she stood back up, looking up at him with her sultry eyes, she deliberately swiped up a drop of cum that had slipped from between her lips. Making a show of it, she stuck out her tongue and licked the drop from her finger before swallowing very clearly.

"You taste good my prince." She whispered into his ear, licking the lobe as she did so.

"Who are you?" He gasped as he already felt himself hardening again.

XXX lemon ends XXX

"Who would you want me to be?" she asked as she had before.

Oberyn closed his eyes and shook his head before grasping the women by her shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eyes. "No, I want to know who you are, what name did your mother gave you, when did you leave Dorne and how come you are here, trained as a prostitute by the Yunkish."

The women swallowed before lowering her eyes, and asking a bit downcast, "Am I not pleasing to you my prince?"

Gently taking hold of her chin, Oberyn moved her head upwards and looked her in the eyes. "You are most pleasing to me my dear, but I want to know who you are. I don't want to fuck a mindless slave who was trained to do so. I want to make love to a woman who wants to be loved by me. And I want to know why that woman is now standing here before me, in my own tent."

The woman nodded and Oberyn released her, letting her sit down on the bed while he slung a piece of cloth around his waist and walked to the table where he picked up two glasses and a pitcher of sweet Dornish wine, and a chair. Placing the chair opposite the woman, he poured the two glasses full and gave one to the woman while placing the pitcher on the ground next to his chair.

The woman gratefully accepted the glass and took a few swigs of wine. It remained silent for a few minutes more, but Oberyn waited patiently. Finally, the woman sighed and began her story. "My name is Ellaria Sand, my father is Lord Harmen Uller, the Lord of Hellholt. My mother and I lived in a small coastal town on the southern shore of the Brimstone river. Twelve years ago, a slaver raid took me and my mother captive along with many others.

We were brought to Lys, where my mother was sold to a brothel, while I was sent to Yunkai, to be trained as a whore. I don't even know if she still lives." Small sobs could be heard as Ellaria let out the anguish she has had to keep hidden within her heart for all those long years. Oberyn felt a pinch in his chest at seeing her tears and took a decision. He pulled a light blanket from the bottom of the bed and slung that around her shoulders.

"Wait here, I'll be right back, and I promise you, if your mother still lives, I'll find her." Ellaria looked up with red puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks, but she seemed to be lost for words.

Oberyn quickly pulled on his pants and put his vest over his shoulders before striding out of his tent and looking at his sniggering guards, one of which joked, "Had fun my prince?"

Oberyn was not amused though, balling his right fist he slammed it into the man's face, breaking his nose and knocking him out cold. The other immediately stopped laughing and stood at attention. Turning to the remaining guard Oberyn hissed, "When he wakes up you send him to Ser Aron Santagar and have him tell Ser Aron that I want ten new guards, the best he can get. You stay right here and make sure _no-one_ besides the High Command enters this tent." Looking down at the knocked-out guard Oberyn shook his head in disgust and marched off.

He quickly made his way to the other command tents, which were conveniently placed rather close together in the middle of the camp. He stopped before the tent of the Lord Marshal and his wife and asked the trio of Amazons standing guard before it, "Is the Lady Francine available, I would like an urgent word with her."

The middle Amazon nodded and replied, "She is, I shall inform the Lady." She turned on her heels and after knocking on the tent pole, she entered the white-walled tent. A minute later she came out again, followed by Francine.

"What is it Oberyn?" Francine asked while closing the clasps that held her weapon sheaths attached to her back. Motioning to the Amazon who had informed her of his presence she continued, "Salaria said that you asked for an urgent word."

"Yes," Oberyn nodded, "I would like to ask you for a favor." This caused a slight rise of Francine's eyebrows and she motioned for him to continue, which he promptly did. "Do you know if, when you and your troops took Lys, you also happened to free a Dornish woman from one of the brothels?"

Looking a bit confused Francine had to think until Salaria said, "We did free several Dornish women in Lys my Lady, remember one of them begged to be allowed to come with us when she heard we were going to Slaver's Bay. She said something about her daughter being sent here."

"What," Oberyn quickly interjected while withering Francine's raised eyebrows at being interrupted. He quickly explained his reasoning though, "Just half an hour ago, when I entered my tent, I found a young Dornish woman waiting for me. After some other things," he ignored the knowing grin Francine sported at those words, "she eventually told me that she came from Dorne. She and her mother where taken by a slaver raid twelve years ago. Her mother was sold to a Lysine brothel, while she herself was sent over to Yunkai. She was one of those slaves the Yunkish tried to buy us off with."

Francine nodded understanding and turned to Salaria, "Do you know that woman's name and if she did actually come with us?"

"No, my Lady," Salaria shook her head regretfully. "I know she was not amongst the armada when we left Valyria, but she might have come along with the return fleet that came to Yunkai with the Forge Master's gifts. With your permission, I will go find out if she is in the camp."

"Go quickly," Francine nodded in agreement before adding, "If you find her, bring her to Prince Oberyn's tent. I will be there as well." Salaria saluted her and quickly ran off with one of her sisters in tow. Turning to Oberyn she said, "Lead the way Oberyn, let's see if we can reunite mother and daughter."

Oberyn quickly obliged and hurriedly returned to his tent, which was now guarded by twelve Dornishmen, one of which sported a broken and bleeding nose. Turning to the man Oberyn softly said, "My apologies for hitting you, I should not have done that. Go to the healers and get your nose fixed up." The man nodded and quickly hurried off.

Oberyn opened the overhang and let Francine enter his tent before he followed her. They found Ellaria where Oberyn had left her not ten minutes ago, huddled on the bed within the blanket he had put around her shoulders. She was no longer crying, but her face was downcast, and her shoulders drooped.

Francine kneeled before the bed and gently took Ellaria's hands in her own. "Hello Ellaria, do you know who I am?"

After looking up Ellaria said softly, "Yes my Lady. You are the one who took Lys."

Francine nodded and said, "That is right. Now Oberyn told me that your mother was in Lys when you last saw her, is that correct?"

Ellaria nodded and letting her face drop again she said softly, "Yes, my Lady. She was sold to a brothel in Lys while I was sent to Yunkai."

Francine squeezed softly in her hands and replied. "Now listen to me very carefully. I do not want you to get your hopes up right now, but we may have found your mother." This caused Ellaria to look up immediately with hope shining in her eyes while Francine continued.

"When we left Valyria, we were approached by a woman from Dornish decent. She claimed to have come from a brothel in Lys and had heard that we were going to Slaver's Bay. She asked to come along because her daughter had been taken there twelve years ago. She was denied passage on the original armada, but she might have come along with the second that came to take the Yunkish back to Valyria. Right now, I have one of my commanders searching around the camp to see if she is here. So, we have to be patient okay, it will take her some time to search around the camp."

Ellaria nodded quickly with hope on her face and she looked up at Oberyn with gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you, my Prince,"

"You are most welcome my dear," Oberyn smiled at her before he dug around in a chest and removed a long, red silk dress, which he gave her. "Here, put this on, I had planned to send this to my eldest daughter Obara for her fifteenth name day, but you are of similar height, so it should fit you reasonably well."

Ellaria gratefully accepted the dress and threw of the blanket to get out of her sheer silk skirt and put on the dress. Francine helped her by creatively tying the laces on the back to make it fit and soon she was dressed properly.

"So that's better isn't it?" Francine asked with a smile as Ellaria caressed the soft silk of the bodice of the dress. It was a bit tight around her breasts and loose around the arms, but it fit her reasonably well.

They waited in silence for nearly half an hour until Francine heard a small group of people running towards the tent. Motioning Oberyn with her eyes towards Ellaria, she quickly got up and walked out of the tent.

As she stepped out, she saw Salaria quickly approaching, flanking a woman in a simple brown dress who looked somewhat like Ellaria. Taking a stand before the tent opening, Francine stopped the women before she could storm on in.

Taking a deep breath, she analyzed the woman's smell and compared it to Ellaria's while staring the woman down with a penetrating gaze. Using a trick, she had learned from Gabrielle, she stared into the woman's eyes. It has been said that the eyes are the gate to the soul, and in her case, Francine could use this to browse the surface thoughts of the one she was looking at. She couldn't break open a mind like Aurora and Gabrielle could, but this way she could still figure out if someone was lying to her or trying to deceive her.

She found nothing ill meaning in the woman's thoughts and her smell did compare reasonably well with Ellaria's. Letting a small smile take over her lips, she nodded to Salaria and stepped aside. Unknown to the woman, Salaria had stood behind her with a drawn knife, ready to intercede at the slightest motion of Francine.

When the woman rushed into the tent, Francine and Salaria where hot on her heels.

Oberyn had immediately taken Ellaria's hands once Francine stood up and kept her on the bed. "Don't rush out," he cautioned her. "It might not be what you expect. We just have to wait and see what the Lady can find out."

Ellaria nodded slowly and tried to relax on the bed while she turned to fidgeting with her dress as they waited. When the overhang was finally swept open after what felt like an eternity, but was less than two minutes in fact, she couldn't help but jump up from the bed.

The two women stood opposite each other for a moment gauging the other and trying to recognize something in the other. Slowly they walked closer as the three spectators kept a careful watch until…

"Mom?" It came softly and a little frightfully from one side only to be answered by an equally soft and frightful,

"Ella?"

"Mom," Ellaria cried before throwing herself into her mother's arms.

"Oh Ella, o my precious little girl." Mother and daughter sank down to their knees as they cried in happiness and joy.

Oberyn walked around them to stand besides Francine and said softly, "Thank you, I'll owe you one for this."

Francine turned to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn with her and she whispered, "You don't owe me anything Oberyn, but let me make one thing very clear to you. I have heard about you, about your reputation and your 'sand snakes', so let me give you one warning. If you start something with this girl, you're going all the way. If you get her pregnant, you will marry her, or I will personally castrate you."

Oberyn swallowed before nodding and he said, "I will. But if you would, send them to Valyria to make sure they're safe. I don't want her anywhere near Mereen or Slaver's Bay in general."

Francine nodded and whispered back, "I'll have them shipped back home first thing in the morning, and they'll be waiting for you when we come back."

"Thank you." With a nod Francine left the tent with Salaria hot on her heels.

Author's note :

So here is the second part of the Slaver's Bay campaign, I hope you liked it and please review.

MM

Definitely my fault this took so long sorry guys.

Ever present Beta Dealyflame


	35. Chapter 35

This chapter has not been beta-read.

The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 35

The Battle for Meereen, part one

The first part of their plan went surprisingly smooth. As Oberyn slipped away in the slums of Meereen, he thought about how it had went. He and a random chosen number of 571 Yunkish Forlorn had ridden hard for the city and dismounted before entering the canyon. They ran the last miles to the gates, through the fields outside the city. All of them had been carefully and methodically beaten up and cut in non-essential places. They all wore torn, ripped and filthy tokars. And after a little 'gift' from Gabrielle, Oberyn now spoke fluent Bastard Valyrian with a Yunkish accent.

Upon reaching the gates, they were stopped by the guards and as planned, Oberyn was the one first to the gates and so he spoke with the guards. In ten nerve wracking minutes he had lied, flattered and begged for entrance into the city, until the guards had finally relented and allowed them to go in.

Worryingly though was that when he risked a last peek towards the north, he could see that the khalasar was at most half a day away, as the dust clouds where only a few hills away. It would seem that the Ladies could not arrive on time to take the city.

As he mesmerized over that fact, he and two dozen of the Forlorn made their way towards the great pit of Daznak as Ivan had suggested to scout out the defenses and to see if they could perhaps get an eye on Ivan's contact within the walls. He had said that they would recognize him as soon as they would see him, it was the biggest fighter besides Ivan himself.

XXX

Aurora, Gabrielle and Ivan sat upon their mounts in the rising light of mid-morning as they looked down at the city in the distance. They had ridden ahead of the army to scout out the situation and now that they could see the city, Ivan cursed softly. "Fuck. Those horse riding savages are fast. It looks like they're already settled in." Looking besides him at the two ladies he asked, "We go ahead with the plan?"

"We do," Aurora nodded in agreement before studying the landscape around them. The city of Meereen was located at the far end of an immense canyon between the rugged hills and cliffs that surrounded it. The river Skahazadhan ran along the northern side of the city, making the only well travelled available land route to the city, the thin road leading into the hills where they were now standing.

The canyon, easily ten miles long and half again as wide, was a lush green plain shot through with many small streams and a single 30-yard wide brick road leading from the massive gates of the city, all the way to the other side and then went on into a well-traveled road of hard-pressed earth. Orchards and fields of grain where everywhere with small walled farms dotted around them.

On the right of where they stood, the khalasar had erected it's massive camp in a wide half circle against the canyon walls. Within the half circle where the tens-of-thousands of horses that made up their herds and beside a few dozen groups of outriders, none strayed far from the camp.

Turning around when they heard approaching horses, they saw Francine approaching them with a large group. She was flanked by Valaya and Salaria, and they in turn were followed by one hundred amazons.

They waited until the group had arrived before Aurora said to the two senior amazons, "Wait here and keep an eye on things, when it turns dark descend into the valley and capture several patrols. We need at least 5 dozen to proceed, though more are preferable, and remember, capture them unharmed."

"Yes My Lady," both said in unison with a small nod before they both dismounted and along with their soldiers, picketed their horses out of sight from the canyon and prepared to keep watch for the rest of the day.

The four of High Command stayed around for a short while longer before they left the group on watch and returned to the main body of their army to help prepare the site they had chosen for the battle.

They followed the road that led from the city for ten miles until they reached a second massive canyon, this one running west to east and having a bulge on the northern side. Their army had already arrived and was hard at work to prepare the field for battle. The trees and brush that covered the canyon was being cut down and tens-of-thousands were busy digging multiple lines of massive trenches, preparing artillery positions, and otherwise readying the field for battle.

A large group of mainly Dornish where busy building a great fence out of the cut down trees to close of the 'bulge', while the men of Harry and Tatters where unloading carts with piles of shields and other equipment.

Over the course of the day, the battlefield was prepared until it met the requirements that had been set for it. When all was in place, and everyone was ready, they ordered their men to eat and then rest, as the battle would begin before dawn the next day.

Leaving their army under control of Argyll, Harry and Tatters late in the evening, after having taken a few neccesary hours of rest, Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan, and Francine made their way back to the amazons that had been stationed to keep watch over the khalasar. They reached them two hours before midnight and found the camp only guarded by half a dozen, the rest not having returned from their hunt yet.

Over the next hour, the groups began coming back with their prisoners. Valaya and Salaria's groups were the last to return, bringing no less than 28 prisoners between them. Once they were all back, the prisoners were brought forth and lined up before the Ladies. There were 87 of them, all clad in horse hair leggings and painted leather vests. Most were raging against their binds and several tried to run off, but since they were all gagged, no sounds were heard from them.

Picking one each, Aurora and Gabrielle placed their hands on the heads of the two prisoners and broke open their minds with ease. Taking everything the men knew, they absorbed the Dothraki language, their culture, customs, tactics, and the name and location of the Khal.

Turns out that the khalasar they had come across was what remained of Khal Bharbo's horde, one of the biggest that roamed the Dothraki sea. Bharbo was killed a few weeks ago by a rival Khal, one Khal Mengo, and the remains of both Khalasars were now joined together under Mengo. They also learned that Bharbo's son, Drogo, was not killed as customary but taken prisoner along with all those who did not agree to follow Mengo. He and the others were now held as slaves, intended to be sold to the Masters of Meereen.

When they had learned everything they needed to know, they wiped them and re-programmed them for a very specific task. They did this with all the others and when they were done, the new 'recruits' where released, given back their weapons and some new things, and send on their way. They would require several hours to complete their task and so the Valyrians left to prepare the next step of their plan.

XXX

A while later, two hours before dawn, the 87 new Forlorn had easily reintegrated themselves into the camp and after returning their horses to the rest of the herds, they snuck off to prepare for their orders. Each had been given several pouches with a very volatile mixture and a flint and steel to ignite them. They all made their way to the back of the canyon, behind the herds and there they waited for the signal to be given.

Far in the distance a single burning arrow was shot into the sky and instantly they went to work while the guards remained ignorant to the threat. They took out the pouches and used the flint and steel to light a small torch. Barely a minute later, two more fire arrows where shot skywards and they lit the pouches. Throwing them away as soon as the fuses were lit, the pouches landed between the horses and there they exploded, shooting small burning hot rock splinters in every direction. The explosions and the rock splinters caused an immediate panic amongst the horses and they went the only way they could go, into the camp.

A massive stampede thundered into the Dothraki camp, trampling warriors and women, slaves and children as the fury of their hooves shook the canyon floor, being felt within the very city itself.

XXX

From the edge of the canyon, Aurora and Gabrielle looked on with satisfaction as fires sprung up everywhere in the camp, adding to the chaos and frightening the horses even more. A fair share of them where recaptured as they got stuck in tent lines or when fearless riders sprung in their path and mounted them, but even so, more than two-thirds of the horses escaped to the road where the Valyrians were waiting for them.

All along the canyon road, on each of the side-paths, fires had been lit to block those paths and leave only a single path free for the horses to go, right where the Valyrians wanted them to go. Shouting and screaming small groups of mounted soldiers helped to drive the horses on until they reached the battlefield, where the ranks upon ranks of Forlorn were waiting for them. They carried torches and used their large tower shields to form a path towards the 'bulge' which the Dornish had turned into a gigantic corral. Massive gates where slid into place to close off the corral when the last of the horses where in, trapping them and robbing the Dothraki of a very valuable resource.

Meanwhile in the canyon of Meereen, large numbers of Dothraki on the remaining horses came storming towards the canyon road where Aurora and Gabrielle where waiting for them with the amazons gathered on the flanks of the road behind them. They waited until the riders were only half a mile away before Aurora raised her right fist and roared, "MAKE READY."

1.500 dismounted amazons knocked their arrows, held them above the readied braziers and drew back their bowstrings waiting for the order.

Aurora kept her fist raised until the Dothraki where only 500 yards away. Bringing it down abruptly she roared, "FIRE," and one-and-a-halve-thousand burning arrow shot into the sky in a wide arc.

As planned they landed right before the first riders who's horses, still being a bit spooked, roared on their hind legs and nearly threw their riders off. As the horsemen came to halt as they tried to regain control of their mounts, Aurora slightly transformed her throat and let out a draconian roar that echoed through the canyon.

Silence fell instantly as both men and horse instinctually recognized the sound of a superior predator. Standing up in her stirrups, Aurora roared in perfect Dothraki, "THOSE HORSES ARE OURS NOW. IF YOU WANT THEM BACK, COME AND GET THEM YOU BOW LEGGED HORSE FUCKERS."

As expected this infuriated the Dothraki and some 15.000 riders came storming towards them, again shaking the ground beneath their hooves.

"MOVE OUT," Aurora yelled to the amazons behind them and they quickly mounted up on their own horses and followed Aurora and Gabrielle as they raced into the canyon, staying just outside the reach of the Dothraki archers who shot at them from the saddle.

For near ten minutes they led them on a furious chase through the canyon road until they reached the edge of the battle field. Looking beside her, Gabrielle nodded at Francine who uncovered a small lantern and held a fire arrow near it until it ignited. Mounting the arrow on her bow, she aimed it skywards and let it fly.

XXX

Nearly two miles away, Ivan and Argyll had sat waiting atop Ironhide and Alys before the frontlines of the Forlorn. Ivan's hearing, while not as sharp as his wife's, was still far better than Argyll's and he could hear the thunder of hooves long before the others could hear them entering the canyon. "They're coming," he softly said to the Lord General besides him and nodded to a drummer on the other side of him.

The man quickly beat a short sequence of four beats and all along their lines they could hear the officers yell, "GET READY." Shields where locked together, spears were held at the ready and all soldiers waited calmly for the battle to begin.

They only had to wait for two minutes before they saw the signal, a fiery arrow shot upwards in the distance. "FIRST POSITIONS," Ivan roared and the drummer replied with three quick beats on his kettle drums. Instantly the Forlorn shot together and opened dozens of holes in their frontline, each at least a dozen yards wide.

A minute later a second fire arrow shot upwards and Ivan roared, "ARCHERS READY," the drummer beat three quick series of three beats and the archers took up their positions behind the infantry, knocking arrows and half-drawing their bows.

Now everyone could hear the overwhelming thunder of hooves and suddenly many hundreds of shadows emerged from the pre-dawn darkness. The amazons raced through the gaps in the frontlines, each illuminated by a torch on either side and as soon as they were through, Ivan roared again, "CLOSE RANKS, ARCHERS FIRE AT WILL." Three slow beats on the drum followed and as the Forlorn closed their ranks, 10.000 archers unleashed their arrows into the darkness.

As Aurora, Gabrielle and Francine joined Ivan and Argyll, the amazons joined their arrows to the continues barrage of black-feathered death that was raining down on the field, and the Dothraki rode right into it. Screams of pain and fear from the horses mingled with the unintelligible screams of men as thousands found their end at the hands of an invisible enemy. The few thousand Dothraki screamers that made it through the lethal and unstopping rain, found an impenetrable barricade of sharpened death in their path.

Rows upon rows of fire hardened sharpened wooden poles had been hammered into the ground and in the darkness, the blackened stakes were not seen before it was too late. Hundreds of horses skewered themselves on the stakes, letting their riders fly on, right into the waiting spears of the Forlorn. With impeccable discipline the Forlorn waited for the Dothraki to reach their lines and when they did, they were ready. The Valyrian steel spears shot forward and impaled the Dothraki screamers and their horses with every methodic thrust.

Aurora and Gabrielle looked on in satisfaction as they watched their army systematically slaughter the once feared Dothraki cavalry. For so long the Dothraki were used to simply trample whatever stood before them, but now that they were faced with an army that stood their ground fearlessly and slaughtered them under a hailstorm of steel-tipped arrows, they didn't know what else to do but throw themselves at the Valyrian lines in a futile attempt to break through. To no avail though, as they were slaughtered to the last.

After ten minutes of continuing firing by the archers, Aurora raised her right fist and yelled at the drummers, "SEIZE FIRING." Two short beats echoed throughout the army and the archers stopped their barrage. A few lost horses still ran between the stakes but other than that, the only sign of life that remained on the field was the screaming of dying and wounded men and horses.

"Advance," Aurora said calmly and two slow beats followed by two quick beats were struck.

As one, 15.000 Forlorn marched forwards in lockstep formation, shields locked and spears at the ready. They marched onto the field, stabbing their spears down into every limp body they came across to make sure they were actually dead and executing the few they found alive. The wounded horses they came across where put out of their misery and as the sun slowly rose above them, the full carnage was revealed to the ones watching from the side-lines.

Harry and Tatters, their men, and the Dornish, along with the Braavosi and other free-thinking parts of their army had watched from the side-lines as the battle was fought before their eyes.

Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan and Francine rode up to their allies and once they stood before the expecting men, Aurora spoke loudly, "Now you have seen what we talked about, this is the way in which we will fight. This is the way to victory. This is how we will break the Ghiscari Empire, the Dothraki and all the others who will be foolish enough to stand in our way as we march across Essos, to free all those suffering beneath the lash and chain of slavery.

Now I know you already promised to fight for us, but I ask you this, is this what you want for your future? Is this a goal you will fight for?"

Roars of approval came from the army as they listened to her speak, all emboldened by the easy massacre of their enemies, all of them willing to fight, to die if must.

"ARE YOU WITH US?" Aurora and Gabrielle yelled together as they stood up in their stirrups and raised their axes with the light of dawn behind them, "WILL YOU FIGHT WITH US, NOW AND ALWAYS?"

"NOW AND ALWAYS," The men all roared in approval, their cheers echoing throughout the canyon. With a feral grin on her face, Aurora looked at her wife and said, "Now they have seen, now they will believe, and now the word will spread."

A similar grin was on Gabrielle's lips as she nodded and replied, "I know love, I know. Now let's just hope Dagmer is able to do his part of the plan. So we can prepare the field for the next stage of battle."

"He will," Aurora replied confidently, "I know he won't disappoint us."

XXX

On the other side of the city, at the mouth of the Skahazadhan, Dagmer and Alys stood on the prow of the _Kraken's Vengeance_ as they watched the fleet around them. 400 Ironborn longships and 100 war galley's sailed up the river under the cover of darkness.

Far ahead of them, the city stood in the distance though they could not yet see it. "This is far enough," Dagmer shouted to the helmsman who nodded and gave the orders to reef the sails and drop the anchors while Alys blew a signal on her horn to pass the order to the other ships.

Within minutes the entire fleet lay at anchor, save a hundred of the oldest longships in their fleet. Giving his wife a kiss, Dagmer climbed overboard into a waiting sloop in which he was rowed towards one of the longships.

Each of the ships had but a skeleton crew, just enough to row them up river and shoot a few arrows, but no more. None of the crew were armored or armed with their new weapons and armor to prevent them from being lost in the river if the ships were sunk, instead they were equipped with their old gear. This was deliberate as their plan depended on it. Rowing upriver as quick as they could, they made as much noise as possible and it wasn't long until they were spotted. Fire beacons were lit along the river banks and when the city finally came into view, a Meereenese naval squadron was waiting for them.

They were met by a hailstorm of boulders and fire arrows as the war galleys rowed forward to try and ram them. Thirty-two ships were lost, their crews swimming away and either climbing aboard other ships or hiding in the riverbanks, before Dagmer thought it was enough. Yelling as loud as he could, so _everyone_ could hear him, Dagmer roared over the water, "RETREAT. THIS BATTLE IS LOST. LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE."

The longships immediately rowed backwards, fleeing with their tails between their legs, and the 'victorious' Meereenese cheered as they saw their attackers flee, confident that they had driven them off.

As Dagmer pulled on the oar of a second battered longship, the first one he had sailed having sunk to the bottom, he muttered softly, "This had better be worth it."

"What's that captain?" the man behind him asked and Dagmer looked around and repeated,

"I said this had better be worth it, we lost good ships and men in this distraction, let's hope they do the thing we expect and hold this 'fight' for over."

"You got that right captain." The man said as he looked at the wounded laying in the middle of the longship.

XXX

A few hours later, just as the city would normally awake to their daily lives within the walls, Oberyn's men where sneaking through the shadows below the city towards their targets. They had been awake and active since the Dothraki camp had been set alight, so they all knew the day of action had come. Oberyn and two others were currently dressed as Meereenese soldiers, after having assassinated the previous users of the gear, and walked openly through the city, listening and watching for any news that might help their mission.

The news so far had been good, near halve the Dothraki where rumored to have been killed when their remaining cavalry had ridden out after their escaped horses three hours ago and had yet to return. An attack by the Ironborn had been beaten of by the Meereenese navy so they thought that battle was won and the harbor secure. Now it all hinged on whether or not the Masters of Meereen would sent their army out with the remaining Dothraki as their Khal Mengo had demanded.

Suddenly bells where sounded all over and people shot to action. Oberyn and his men rushed towards the nearest marketplace where an announcer appeared soon after who yelled, "People of Meereen, the Great Masters of our magnificent city have decided. All men of the militia must report to their mustering places, our legions will march out with the warriors of Khal Mengo to put a stop to the futile ambitions of these so-called 'Valyrians'. The legions march out two hours before noon."

He went on a while after that, spouting some nonsense about the supposed greatness of their city and the 'invincibility of their armies'. "Come, I've heard enough." Oberyn muttered quietly to his two men and they quickly marched off, pretending to go to a barracks. As soon as they were out of sight, they headed towards one of their secret mustering places in the sewers below the city.

When they entered the sewers, they quickly ditched the uniforms and only keeping the weapons with them, they hurried through the darkness until they came across the others. The meeting place happened to be directly beneath the Great Pit of Daznak, the floor of the subterranean room was littered with bones, remains of the poor souls that had died on the sands above them.

Near a hundred Forlorn were present and Oberyn walked to the middle of the group and spoke, "The Meereenese army will march two hours before noon, meaning they will arrive at the battlefield around noon. We make our move at the same time." All of them saluted him and he moved on through the sewers to the next meeting place to inform the next group.

XXX

At the edge of the canyon before Meereen, Francine, Valaya and Salaria sat atop their horses to look out over the preparations going on in the canyon. They saw the Dothraki marshaling their remaining strength. They saw the legions of Meereen gathering on the fields before the city and they all smiled in satisfaction. So far everything was going exactly as planned.

Looking behind her, Francine addressed the amazons waiting for them. "Marana, Gaya, ride back to the army and report to The Ladies; The armies of Meereen are mustering and will march soon, they should expect them around noon. As it looks now, they have some 16 legions, each 6.000 strong. The Dothraki have some 22.000 left, all on foot save a few hundred mounted."

Both saluted and replied as one, "Yes my Lady," before turning their horses and riding of in a hurry. Francine looked after them until they were out of sight before turning back to watching the gathering armies.

She tried to focus on the Meereenese militia, but they were too far away even for her eyes to clearly see their equipment. Judging by what they had seen during their brief stay in the city, it wouldn't be much more than simple padded linen with bronze rings sewn on for extra protection. The shields would be big, round, and unwieldy, and the spears long with steel points.

They would be trained to stay in close ranks, so they'd be well guarded if they remained disciplined, but the most important thing was that they were militia, not professional soldiers. The Dothraki would be unarmored and unruly, just as they had been last night. Their only danger lay in their horses, which were now no longer an issue.

XXX

Aurora and Ivan rode over the field of battle to make sure no obstacles were left of the massacre of this morning. All bodies, both of men and of horses had been removed and the horses were being butchered for their meat. The shot arrows had been gathered and if they were still whole they were re-distributed to the archers, or otherwise stored away to be repaired later.

Looking up at the sky Ivan muttered, "It's close to noon, I'd say half an hour before, they'll be here soon."

Placing a hand on Ivan's armored knee, Aurora replied, "Let them come Ivan, we're ready for them. Today you'll have your vengeance, today we'll rid Slaver's Bay from the last of these so called 'Great Masters'."

Ivan nodded and as he padded Ironhide beneath him he answered, "I know we're ready, I'm just anxious to get started. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see me again, now that I'm finally myself once more."

Aurora lifted her hand and laughed loudly, "I'm pretty sure that just the look of you will be enough to make them shit themselves."

"Hehehe, yea I'm sure they will." Ivan grinned before turning his eyes westwards where a pair of riders were quickly approaching.

Valaya and Salaria came to a halt and after saluting the two commanders, Valaya said, "My Lady, Lord Marshal. The Lady Francine told us to inform you that the Meereenese have crossed into the last part of the canyon road, they'll be here in half an hour."

"Where is my wife?" Ivan asked looking westwards.

"The Lady has stayed to watch over the enemy and monitor their progress. She'll be arriving before they do."

"Good," Aurora said calmly, "and what of the Dothraki, where are they?"

"They advance before the Meereenese in an undisciplined horde." Salaria reported with a grin, "Just as you predicted they would."

"That's good," Aurora nodded with a smile, "go on and join your sisters, Argyll will tell you what to do."

"Yes, My Lady," both said with a bow, before they saluted and rode off.

Aurora and Ivan shared a look before focusing their eyes on the west, and the coming of the enemy. Above them, large flocks of crows and vultures swarmed over the battlefield, drawn by the smell of shed blood and the promise of even more carnage before the day was out.

They waited there in silence, alone on the field for near half an hour, the cries of the crows above them the only sound. Everyone was in place, all the plans were on the table and now all they could do was wait to see them come to fruition.

When Francine finally joined them she gave Ivan a kiss before saying, "The Dothraki are staying with the Meereenese for now, they didn't storm ahead as we had hoped."

"Damn," Aurora muttered as Gabrielle, Argyll, Harry and Tatters joined them.

"Change of plans," Aurora told the others once they arrived, "Francine just told me that the Dothraki are staying with the Meereenese, so we go to plan B."

The others all nodded and Gabrielle said, "Then let's go get to it."

XXX

In the city, Oberyn tried to check the position of the sun through the grate above him, but it proofed to be impossible. Deciding they had waited long enough, he looked down and nodded at the man standing below him. "We've waited long enough, give the signal, we move now."

"Yes my Lord," the man said and he hurried off to tell the others.

A minute later the lid of a privy in the guards barracks was carefully raised and a head slowly emerged from it. Once the Forlorn made sure there was no one, he quickly climbed out and was soon followed by others. Dozens emerged from the sewers and armed with knives and daggers, they snuck out and spread out through the barracks.

Oberyn emerged after the first group was out and to his satisfaction, he saw that most of the guards where gone, no doubt having been called to fight. The few they came across where neutralized and tied up until enough had emerged to make their move into the training yard.

Oberyn was the first to emerge from the barracks and the half dozen Unsullied still on guard immediately charged at him, only to be intercepted by the Forlorn. They threw themselves at the guards with reckless abandon and four died before they could kill the guards.

The Pit fighters were looking at the fight with interest from behind their locked cells and once it was over, Oberyn stepped forward and ordered his men to open the cells. Once the Pit fighters were all free and looking at him, it wasn't hard for Oberyn to find the man Ivan had spoken of.

The man was a Sothoryi and stood at 7 foot 3, with bulging muscles all over his body and two small tusks protruding out of his lower jaw. His hair was black, his skin was dark brown, and he was covered in artfully arranged scars. Oberyn walked up to him and asked in Bastard Valyrian, "Are you the one they call Yagathai?" When the man nodded Oberyn continued, "That is good, I have a message from the Demon; He says that the time has come, today is the day you can win your freedom."

Yagathai nodded once before turning to his fellows, "Today we brake our chains. We fight now." His voice was low and guttural and the accent was atrocious, but at least he was understandable.

He turned back to Oberyn and asked, "What is plan?"

Oberyn looked him up and down once before answering, "We arm you, and make our way to the harbor, we secure the harbor gate and wait for our allies."

"Is good plan, but what if Masters return?"

"Trust me," Oberyn said with a grin, "they won't. As we speak, the armies of Valyria are destroying them."

"Good," Yagathai nodded and he stomped off to a rack of weapons attached to the wall of the training yard. He picked a large hammer from the wall and a shield and banged the hammer against the shield. "Take weapons. We go." The others immediately followed his order and armed themselves while Yagathai spoke to Oberyn again.

"What about the others. There be more pits in city."

"I know," Oberyn agreed, "That is why I have groups of men doing there the same as we have just done here. All of your fellow fighters are being freed as we speak."

"Good," the Sothoryi replied before marching up to the locked gates and bringing his hammer down on the lock, breaking it open with a single hit. He raised his hammer in the air and yelled, "We now fight for freedom."

The others all repeated his cry and they stormed out of the gates towards the docks while Oberyn couldn't suppress a small grin. They sure where eager to fight.

When they neared the docks, Oberyn saw that the first group had already done their part. The watchtowers on the walls were burning, their stores of pitch causing thick black smoke that rose high into the sky.

XXX

Dagmer and Alys had spent the few hours since the 'defeat' with caring for the wounded and re-arming the ones still able to fight with their new equipment. Now they waited for the signal to make their move.

"Look," Alys suddenly said and she pointed at the black smoke rising in the distance.

Dagmer looked and once he saw it himself he yelled at the helmsman, "Raise the anchors and set sail, we move out."

The helmsman nodded and once again Alys took her horn and blew the signal to move. The whole fleet raised their anchors, lowered their sails and manned the oars. Within minutes they were on the move and headed full speed towards the city.

Half an hour later, the Iron Fleet landed in the harbor of Meereen, un-resisted as planed as all Meereenese naval units had joined their land forces when they marched. 18.000 Ironborn jumped off their ships and spread out over the harbor before moving into the city. Dagmer and Alys were amongst the first off the ships and they met Oberyn at the gates to the city.

"Good to see you again Oberyn," Dagmer grinned as he threw him his new spear. The new weapon was very similar to his previous spear, only this one was made of dragonbone and Spell-forged steel. Oberyn caught it with a grin and caressed the engraved shaft as if it was a beloved child. The Forge Master himself had made it for him and he had promised him in turn to take good care of it.

"Well let's get to work shall we," Dagmer grinned before he joined the mass of Ironborn streaming into the city, Alys and Oberyn hot on his heels.

XXX

Aurora and Gabrielle sat just behind the frontlines, waiting atop their destriers for the enemy to make their move. They had arrived at the canyon and were now forming up on the field. They seemed to be in high spirits, which was not that surprising from their point of view as they appeared to outnumber their foe near three to one.

The Valyrian army had been very carefully arranged, the frontline, which was the only one in plain sight, was made up of 15.000 Forlorn in the center and 8.000 Unsullied on each flank. The left flank was protected by a sheer cliff and large fields of shrubbery, the right flank was covered by the trees of a small forest. Aurora personally commanded the center, Gabrielle the left flank and Argyll the right. The line was shaped like a shallow half moon, subtly forcing the attacker to focus on their heaviest elite troops in the center.

Francine commanded the archers and the artillery from the rear and Ivan headed the heavy cavalry and special troops which were very cleverly hidden on the left flank. The men of Harry and Tatters, along with the Braavosi where likewise hidden out of sight between the trees on the right flank and waiting for the command to spring the trap. The Dornish had been placed amongst the archers, as in this battle bow skills did not mater but everyone could use a bow and fire in volleys.

The remainder of the Unsullied and the Forlorn, where waiting as reserves in trenches between the front line and the ranged troops who waited in their own trenches. With their army in place, Aurora and Gabrielle rode through the front line and forward and from opposite them they could see a similar delegation approaching. Two Dothraki, and three Meereenese rode forward and they met each other in the middle.

To the amusement of the Ladies they saw that one of the Meereenese delegates was none other than Allazar of the House of Daznak, the one they had bought Ivan from. When they looked at the two Dothraki though their amusement quickly vanished. Seated on a black horse besides the one they assumed to be Khal Mengo, was Horro, the former commander of the Golden Company's cavalry who had betrayed them at Tyrosh. He had discarded his heavy armor and was now dressed as an ordinary Dothraki, he had also acquired a new sword. A Dragon-bone-handled arakh hung from his saddle and when they looked closer they saw the blade was Valyrian steel.

When their horses came to a halt, Aurora and Gabrielle slowly removed their helmets and both Allazar and Horro gasped as they recognized them. "YOU," Allazar yelled as he pointed an accusing finger at them.

"Yes, _us_ ," Aurora replied with a dark smirk. "and I know several people who would be more than glad to put your ugly face on a spike Horro. You are responsible for the deaths of a lot of good men."

"A lot of traitors you mean." Horro spat back at them. "I at least fulfilled our contract with Tyrosh, the others broke their word."

"Enough," Mengo said to Horro, "We are not here about who betrayed who." Turning to Aurora and Gabrielle he said coldly. "You killed my warriors and you stole our horses, we will take them back."

"You can try," Gabrielle scoffed, "but so did your men this morning, and where are they now?"

"I will have my vengeance," Mengo spat before abruptly turning his horse around and riding off with Horro besides him.

Allazar looked at them go before turning back to the Ladies. "You may have fooled us before, but there is no fooling us now. You are greatly outnumbered, you have nowhere to go, surrender now and your lives will be spared."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle laughed at that and Gabrielle replied, "You have no idea how many people have told us that in all of our lives. So let me in turn tell you this, surrender now, and only most of you will die. We may be outnumbered, but trust me when I say that you are terribly outmatched."

Now the Meereenese laughed and Allazar said, "Very well, you have made your choice. I'll look for you in the battle." He and the other two turned around and rode of.

"I doubt it," Aurora yelled after him, "The Demon is rather looking forward to smash your face in." This made him stop and look around in concern where he saw both Ladies smirk at him. "O, and by the way," Aurora added, "You only defeated a diversionary attack on the harbor. We sent a small fleet of old ships to make you feel safe. As we speak, 18.000 Ironborn are streaming into your city through gates that have been opened by the very fighters you have forced to kill and die in your pits."

Now shock spread over their faces before they turned around briskly and galloped back to their army, leaving Aurora and Gabrielle with a smirk. Both ladies put their helmets back on and galloped back to their own army.

"I'd say that's enough to make Mengo take the bait." Gabrielle said with a small huff. And indeed, when they arrived back at their own lines, the Dothraki horde was the first to move. With a loud yell and swinging of his arakh, Mengo and his remaining riders stormed forwards, followed by the footslogging Dothraki who ran at full speed.

"Pathetic," Aurora muttered softly while she studied the advancing horde. The Meereenese did not abandon their temporary allies, as their legions advanced at a steady pace as well, but since their strength depended on the unity of their formations, their advance was slow, far slower than the Dothraki.

The Dothraki archers let their arrows fly towards the Valyrian battle line, but Aurora, Gabrielle and Argyll quickly ordered them to raise shields and the large rectangular tower shields of the Forlorn formed an overlapping impenetrable barrier. The Unsullied were less lucky, their round shield offering less protection but even so, they raised their shields and most arrows were deflected.

The drummer had remained with Aurora, now having mounted his drums on a horse to allow him to follow her, and she ordered, "Archers fire, two salvo's," One, then two, and again two beats echoed through the canyon and behind the frontlines 6.000 archers knocked their arrows and fired. The black-shafted arrows rained down on the unarmored Dothraki as they had that morning and the first salvo alone claimed a thousand dead or wounded, the second claimed even more victims and the haphazard assault faltered slightly. Mengo managed to rally his men though and they once again came screaming at them.

"Fire again, until they reach our lines." The drummer complied and seconds later the volleys came whistling over their heads. The lack of shields and armor made the Dothraki easy targets and they suffered horrendous casualties under the continuous barrage. They persevered though and when they reached the Valyrian lines, they crashed on them as a wave on a cliff.

From her position behind the frontline, which was ten deep, Aurora looked in satisfaction as the captains took command of their companies. Each company was 250 strong, and the captain was located in the middle in the third rank and on an upturned crate to give him a good overview of his section of the frontline. This made him a prime target for enemy sharpshooters, but that was a risk they had decided was worth taking, and besides, the seven men behind him where all standing ready to take over should he be taken out.

The Dothraki where not that organized though, and with a grim pleasure, Aurora watched as Mengo and Horro both had their horses killed beneath them and when they fell, she mentally reached out for the captain nearest them and ordered his company forward and capture them. The section advanced slowly, stabbing their spears forward, killing the first line of Dothraki, and then marching forward one step and repeated it, the companies on either side marched along slowly to protect their flanks, and so they formed a small bulge.

Within ten steps both men were reached and once secured, the unit marched backward the same way they had come and the line was made straight again. The two captives were passed along to the back of the line and once they were out of the ranks, five Forlorn from the reserves jumped them and after knocking them out, they bound them and carried them away. The reserves had been placed in groups behind the frontline to deal with the prisoners that were thrown out by the front ranks, and to fill the gaps that would inevitably fall as soldiers were injured or killed.

By that time, the Meereenese had advanced to within 500 yards and Aurora ordered the drummer, "Signal the artillery to begin their firing, boulders only for now." The man quickly beat four strokes followed by two, and seconds later 30 boulders shot over their heads to crash into the Meereenese legions, carving bloody swaths through their phalanxes.

With satisfaction Aurora saw that Francine had obviously caught her drift and the archers had followed the artillery and were now firing at the Meereenese, utilizing the disruption of their formations by the artillery to inflict greater casualties on the loosened ranks. This tactic forced the Masters to make a choice, keep their formations intact and suffer from the artillery, or loosen their formations and suffer from the archers. They chose to wither the artillery so their phalanxes remained intact as they advanced towards the Dothraki which were quickly being decimated.

Just before the Meereenese reached them, and with only a few hundred Dothraki remaining, Aurora ordered the drummer, "Switch the front line, draw swords." The man beat once, then thrice and then once again and over the entire line, the front rank threw their shoulders against their shields, pushing the few remaining Dothraki away and quickly turned sideways and slipped between the ranks behind them. At the same time the other nine ranks marched a step forward to present a fresh line of troops to the nearing Meereenese. The new front rank had handed their spears to the ones behind them before moving and those were now passed on too the rear where they were gathered and placed into waiting barrels. Short swords where now drawn and with raised shields, they waited for the arrival of the pike-wielding phalanxes.

The advantage the pike had over the sword was their range, but in the fight Aurora had envisioned, that advantage would very quickly turn to a disadvantage. The day before, three lines of long trenches had been dug behind the frontlines and in the middle line of those trenches, 2.000 former sellswords now stood waiting with loaded crossbows.

All the while the ranged troops maintained their barrage, every artillery volley was followed by an arrow volley in such a devastating volume that entire phalanx companies where wiped out before they even reached the Valyrian frontline.

When the tips of the first phalanx were mere yards away, Aurora nodded to the drummer who quickly beat once, then twice, twice again, and once more. Immediately the front lines ducked down low and the sellswords behind them emerged from their trenches. They fired a single volley at the front rank of the phalanxes and their Valyrian steel tipped bolts penetrated through the shields, right into the men behind them.

As the men fell, the crossbowmen ducked back into their trenches and the first two ranks of archers took over. They now fired their bows horizontally, straight into the now unshielded phalanxes. Keeping up the barrage until the first line of phalanxes was completely eradicated, the archers inflicted horrendous casualties on the militia soldiers.

When the archers stopped firing, the front lines stood up again to await the advance of the second line of phalanxes, whose marching formations where hampered by the bodies, shields and pikes of their predecessors.

The archers rejoined the others with their volleys while the sellswords hurried off through the trenches to join their still concealed brethren on the right flank.

By now the Meereenese archers had come into range to start firing back with their own bows and the counter volleys mostly bounced harmlessly from the shields of the Forlorn. Francine quickly realized the danger and ordered her archers to counter fire and focus on the enemy archers.

This was a gamble, as now the phalanxes could advance molested only by the artillery over the last stretch before the Valyrian lines, but they had to keep the enemy archers suppressed lest they got lucky and opened gaps in the Valyrian front line.

While the archers fought out their own duel with their counterparts, the frontlines of both armies finally connected with an almighty crash. The pikes of the Meereenese got stuck or snapped off on the tower shields of the Forlorn which were covered in thin sheets of Valyrian steel. The Forlorn used the size of the shields to their advantage by hiding behind them, letting the few pikes that penetrated between the shields to go through harmlessly, and allowing the ranks behind them to hack at them with their short swords.

Once it was clear to Allazar, who was elected the supreme commander of the Meereenese army, that the pikes were apparently not going to work, he ordered his men to drop them and advance with short-spears, swords and axes.

At that precise moment when the Meereenese where switching their weapons, Aurora ordered the drummer again, "Switch front ranks." One beat on the drum followed and as a well oiled machine, the entire front rank was switched out again for a fresh one, to the amazement of the Meereenese militia who looked envious at the clockwork precision and discipline of the Forlorn.

Just as the Forlorn shields closed again, the Meereenese reached them and threw themselves against the shield wall with not much enthusiasm.

Aurora looked out over her army with a contend smile as she saw the methodic stabbing of the Forlorn swords. Looking to her flanks, she saw that the Unsullied were fairing not much different than the Forlorn in the center. The brunt of the Meereenese units had slammed into the center but the flanks had not been neglected. On the right she saw Argyll's soldiers subtly pulling back, just as she had ordered until their line was sloped backwards instead of forwards.

On the left Gabrielle's units were doing the exact opposite, carefully marching slowly forward until the entire frontline was now angled thus that the Meereenese had their flank/back to the trees, and Aurora waited for the opportune moment to let the first part of her trap snap shut.

The frontlines where now a mingle of pushing bodies, the Meereenese futilely trying to break through the Forlorn line. Now the true military genius of his opponent became apparent to Allazar, as in the face of the unwavering Valyrian shield wall, the Meereenese were being pressed together by their fellows advancing from behind them. The short stabbing swords of the Valyrians carved a bloody toll from the militia as they had no room to swing their weapons or to raise their large and cumbersome round shields to deflect the stabbing swords that shot forward from between the tower shields.

Every time a Forlorn was critically injured or killed, he was grabbed by the one behind him on the left and pulled backwards, while the one directly behind him took his place. Aurora had ordered that each back plate was to be equipped with a handle that was riveted to the upper part of the plate steel. These handles now served to make it easy to drag a wounded to safety. They were passed along to the rear and handed to the reserves who rushed them to one of the three aid stations that had been erected in the middle behind each section's archers.

When she saw that the Meereenese had fully committed to the battle, the rear units waiting patiently for their turn, Aurora finally initiated the second part of her plan. Looking at the patiently waiting drummer she said, "Signal Harry and Tatters; two volleys, then attack under missile cover."

Quickly the man beat five beats followed by two and then three. To Aurora's amusement she could see several of the Meereenese officers look around in concern at hearing the drumbeats, apparently they had figured out that the Valyrians gave orders in that way and were now looking around to see where those orders would take effect. They didn't have to look far.

XXX

behind the temporarily re-erected forest, Harry and Tatters sat atop their destriers at the head of a line of 1.000 knights on fully armored horses. Armed with heavy lances and swords, their men were the crop of their combined remaining mounted fighters, the rest being forced to join the foot soldiers waiting behind the knights.

Nine-thousand heavy infantry stood in formation, anxiously awaiting the beginning of their little part of the battle. Behind them where the two-thousand crossbowmen, and again behind them stood the four-thousand remaining archers.

They were waiting patiently for the signal to be given and Harry and Tatters looked between the trees towards the battlefield. They both used a Myrish lens to scan the area where they were supposed to strike. They saw the enemy slowly being forced into the right position for them to strike, ever so slowly turning their unguarded rear flank towards the forest. Turning around to one of his men, Harry said, "Quickly pass the word, make ready for the attack, it's almost time."

The man quickly did as he said and soon the knights steadied their grip on their lances, the infantry strapped their shields to their arms and the archers knocked their arrows. Barely a minute later the long awaited sound came, a drum echoed over the field and sounded to within the forest, four beats followed by two and then three.

Turning around Harry roared, "Archers, continue volley fire, crossbows one volley then join melee." His men immediately sprung to action.

Two-thousand crossbow bolts arched out of the forest, followed by four-thousand arrows. This barrage struck the back of the Meereenese army and taken completely by surprise, the rear companies were utterly decimated. As the archers shot once more, sending another volley towards the bewildered and chaotic rear lines, the crossbowmen dropped their crossbows and took up shields and melee weapons.

As the first volley soared overhead, Harry raised his lance in the air, the black and golden banner of House Valaris attached to it unfurled in the soft breeze behind the thin screen of trees and his knights did the same. Turning his horse sideways he addressed his knights. "All right lads, you heard the Ladies this morning, today we fight, today we strike a crippling blow to slavery. Now with me men," turning his destrier back towards the battlefield, Harry thrust his lance into the air and roared, "FOR FREEDOM, FOR VALYRIA…. CHARGE."

As he gave his horse the spurs, his knights following along, groups of Dornishmen sprang into action all along his part of the front. Using axes, they cut through ropes which in turn dropped weighted barrels. These barrels functioned as counterweights, pulling upwards large parts of the entire tree line over a distance of 800 yards. This allowed the knights to charge straight into the open, lances outstretched before them, without having to shirk around tree roots and the like. Likewise the infantry behind them could advance at full speed from the start without obstacles.

When the trees cleared, there were but 300 yards between the two armies and within a third of that distance the Valyrian cavalry had reached their top speed. With a heavy nod of his head, Harry snapped shut the visor of his dull black full helmet and focused his vision on the enemy ranks in front of him.

With an ear-splitting crash, the heavy cavalry slammed into the disorganized Meereenese militia, heavy lances skewering through multiple opponents before they were broken or discarded. Swords and hammers where raised and brought down again, their users hacking into the hapless infantry around them. The knights rode on through the panicking mass, the infantry following behind them and taking care of what they left behind.

They weren't allowed to go too far though, Aurora had given clear orders; don't cut them off entirely because a cornered enemy stuck in a trap, will fight much harder than one that has a chance to escape from the trap.

Having reached the maximum allowed depth, Harry raised a horn to his lips and his knights veered off to the right, making a turn and hacking their way out of the militia and back towards their own infantry.

XXX

From where she sat, Aurora looked on with a satisfied grin as she saw Harry and Tatters lead the charge into the enemy's rear. As the knights crashed into the panicking militia, Aurora turned to the drummer and said, "Signal artillery, special ammo, one salvo only." The drummer nodded and four beats followed by one echoed through the noise of combat.

Half a minute later, the boulders flying over their lines were exchanged for large clay pots. The pots were filled with a liquid explosive mixture and thousands of rock and clay splinters. Using the measurement devises Boltrock had created for just this purpose, the crews had cut the fuses to a specific length and loaded the pots. Exactly two seconds after the fuses where lit, they were fired. While the pots flew over the lines, Aurora followed them with her eyes. A mere second before they crashed into the midst of the Meereenese army, the pots exploded.

Tens of thousands of splinters shot in every direction, cutting down hundreds of militia with a single volley.

With a dark satisfaction Aurora watched the holes fall in the middle of the enemy's forces and she turned back to the drummer, "Time for the finishing blow, signal the Lord Marshal; Unleash Hell."

The drummer nodded and beat a quick succession of beats for ten seconds. It was time to end this battle, and the end began with a rumble in the distance. Even from the mile away, Aurora could see the figures now jumping from their trenches. Eight giants appeared to rise from the earth and began to run straight into the Meereenese flank, sealing the 'box' around the enemy army from the third side, leaving only one way open for them to flee in, the road back to the city.

XXX

On the far left side of the Valyrian army, Ivan was waiting impatiently for his signal to strike. The sounds of battle and smell of blood made Ironhide beneath him paw the ground nervously, just like his master the Juggernaut was eager to get started on the bloodshed.

Hiding in a trench hidden behind shrubbery, Ivan looked besides him and saw the reinforcements Boltrock had sent them with the last return fleet. Eight giants being led by Mag the Mighty himself. Each giant was clad head-to-toe in inch-thick Valyrian steel plates over a double, inter-linked layer of mail. They were armed with gigantic chains, each ten yards long with links forged from three inch thick bars of Valyrian steel. On both long sides of each link were six inch spikes, creating a weapon that was just as devastating as the spiked tails of the Ladies' dragon forms.

The trench they were in was deep enough to hide the giants from view, and the wall towards the battlefield was a low slope allowing the final part of the Valyrian army to storm onto the field behind the giants. The greater majority of the heavy cavalry, 6.000 Forlorn on armored horses, stood arrayed behind the giants, ready to ride down whatever was left after the charge of Mag and his warriors.

When he heard the signal for Harry and Tatters to strike, he knew it would soon be their moment as well. Turning to Mag who stood beside him, Ivan tapped his armored leg with the tip of his mace to get his attention. When the giant looked down towards him, Ivan said," Get your warriors ready, it'll be our turn soon."

Mag nodded his head and walked over to the others giants who were clustered together. He spoke a few short sentences in the Old Tongue and they split up, each one taking their place on the front, keeping a distance of 30 yards between them.

All Ivan had to do was raise his mace and the Forlorn cavalry stood ready as well. The horses they rode had been given the same treatment as their riders, making them docile to ride, but very fierce and aggressive to enemies. Also they removed their instinctual hesitation to ride into objects, meaning they would run straight into a phalanx if their riders directed them to do so.

Ivan removed his helmet from where it hung on his saddle and put it on his head, the horns adding nearly a foot to his height. Giving his mace a few swings, he placed it horizontally on the saddle before him and began his pre-battle meditation. He cleared his head of everything he did not need right now, focusing only on the fight ahead.

He sat unmoving for near two minutes before he heard it, as the distant echo of a cavalry charge, a continuous beat on the kettle drum lasting ten seconds. As soon as it started Ivan opened his eyes and turned toward mag, 15 yards to his right. He nodded his head and Mag nodded in turn, slamming his fist against his chest and taking up both ends of his chain.

When the beating stopped, Ivan raised his mace and pressed the button to let the spikes free. He swung it forward and roared, "CHARGE!"

Mag and the giants were the first out, charging up the slope to the battlefield and using their chains to clear the bushes away, preparing the path for the cavalry behind them. The giants' appearance caused the fear of the gods to the Meereenese who had never seen giants before.

Ivan was the next to appear, his presence causing near as much terror as that of the giants. He could hear the cries of, "Demon," and "Daznak's Beast," echoing through the ranks before them as Ironhide gathered speed to keep up with the giants. The Forlorn appeared behind them, rank upon rank of men on horses, both riders and mounts armored in black steel. This, as Aurora had predicted, was enough to break the enemy's will to fight.

As the giants reached the panicking Meereenese, they began to swing their chains around, eviscerating dozens with each swing of the terrifying weapons. Ivan rode between them, Ironhide charging into the militia like a demon from the underworld. Men were crushed beneath the Juggernaut's feet, or eviscerated by his horn blade while his rider swung around him with his mace.

The Forlorn's attack literally shook the battlefield as thousands of tons of meat and metal performed one of the most devastating charges in living memory. The impact they had, both on the flanks of the giants and behind them, crushed everyone that stood in their way. Thousands were simply trampled under the steel-shot hooves of the cavalry, while many hundreds more were cut down by the riders.

XXX

Upon seeing the giants appear out of nowhere, Allazar knew the battle was lost. His men fled by the hundreds and soon by the thousands as they threw away their weapons and fled back to the city. At the same time as the cavalry struck his right flank, the two other fronts moved as well.

The army that had come from the woods renewed their own cavalry charge while their infantry formed up in battle formations, shields locked together to push his men backwards into the charging cavalry and giants.

The frontline they had originally been fighting did not move, but they parted to let the ones behind them advance. The Unsullied moved with their fabled effectiveness and the strange heavy infantry that formed the center moved as one when they fell upon his army.

He could do nothing but look around him and watch his army crumble as they were cut down, trampled, or simple fled. As despair took a hold on his mind, he suddenly became aware of men dying near him. When he looked he saw something he had feared ever since he had heard of his presence. The Demon, _his_ Demon whom he had trained and turned into a champion, came thundering towards him. He was seated on a massive rhinoceros with a blade instead of a horn coming from its head. From the tips of his horned helmet to the feet of his mount, the Demon was covered in blood and pieces of human flesh clung to the spikes on his mace and armor.

With fear gripping his heart, he quickly ordered his own personal elite reserves of 300 Unsullied to intercept the demon before he could reach him. Forming a shield wall in the Demon's path, the Unsullied locked shields and held their spears at the ready.

To Allazar's dismay, the Demon did not stop, on the contrary, he roared an order and within seconds, hundreds of heavy cavalry came to his sides and together they charged the Unsullied blocking their path. Despite their nearly unmatched skill with the spear, the Unsullied's weapons snapped or glanced off on the heavy plate protecting the horses' chests. The cavalry rode on, hacking the Unsullied to pieces without remorse, or stopping.

As the cavalry dealt with the Unsullied, the Demon came to a halt before him. He removed his helmet with his left hand and smirked at him with eyes filled with hatred and rage. With a growl he said "Remember me you inbred mongrel?"

"How dare you," Allazar spat as he drew his sword for the first time that day, "I made you what you are, you were nothing when I bought you and _I_ made you a champion. Is this how you repay my generosity to you, by fighting for our enemies and killing my people."

XXX

"Hmpf," Ivan scoffed at hearing his words, "Made me? You really are as stupid as you look. I was fighting wars before your House was even made. I stayed with you because I chose to do so. To lay the foundations of a rebellion that has conquered your precious city from within."

Pointing his gore covered mace towards Allazar, Ivan growled, "Now make your choice, you can die here, or you will hang from the walls of your precious city."

With a cry of rage Allazar kicked his horse and shot forward towards Ivan. Acting as one, the Juggernaut and his rider were ready. Ironhide threw his head out, skewering the snow-white charger in the flank while Ivan's mace smashed the 'Great Master' from his saddle, breaking every rib in his body and destroying every organ in his chest as the torso was impaled on the spikes.

Bringing the mace towards him, Ivan plucked the ruined, but miraculously still alive, body from his weapon and held him upwards in one arm. With a roar of triumph, he slammed the body down on Ironhide's blade, splitting Allazar from groin to neck.

This single brutal act finished the battle. For fifty yards around him, everything was dead and drenched in blood. Beyond that, the field was covered with the dead and the dying. Further away, the combined Valyrian cavalry was chasing the fleeing Meereenese, now turned from killing to capturing as many as they could.

The amazons likewise joined in on the chase, their unarmored horses being faster than the heavy cavalry and using wooden clubs to knock out everyone they came across, leaving it to the reserves streaming onto the battlefield to capture them.

The bloodlust and rage slowly left his body as Ivan looked around him, the Forlorn and the Unsullied had returned to where they had stood since daybreak. Their ranks greatly diminished, but still intact.

From behind their lines he could see five people riding towards him, Francine, with Aurora and Gabrielle first and Argyll behind them, and Harry came from the other side. As he waited for them to reach him, Mag and the other giants came stomping towards where Ironhide stood.

XXX

Aurora had watched closely as she saw Ivan slaughtering his way towards Allazar, and when she saw him split the man, she couldn't suppress a small chuckle. Mag's charge was awe-inspiring to witness as well, the clumps of human pieces thrown about by the chains reminded her of when she was using her own tail.

When the Meereenese army finally broke, she urged her horse on after seeing to it that everyone did what they were supposed to do and Francine had ridden up next to her. From their sides they saw Gabrielle and Argyll riding up with them towards Ivan.

When they arrived they saw Harry had come from the other side and Francine took one look at her husband's blood and gore covered form before saying with a grin, "You need a bath Ivy."

The others all burst out laughing at that until Gabrielle brought them all back to the present with the question, "How many do you think we lost?"

"Mine are minimal," Ivan replied immediately, "they were already broken when we reached them and they put up no resistance. I think we lost maybe a dozen or two to mishaps and accidents but no more."

"Good," Aurora replied before turning to Harry, "How did you and Tatters do Harry?"

The former Golden Company commander scratched the rough stubble on his chin before he replied, "Maybe fifty to sixty knights, and around three hundred infantry dead, about a thousand wounded though."

Aurora nodded and turned to Francine, "How did the archers get out of this Sinny?"

"We got lucky," Francine muttered, "Thanks to your insistence on having the archers wear full armor, we got only a few dozen dead, mostly by crossbow bolts. Wounded are less than a hundred."

Good," Aurora replied before looking at Argyll,

She didn't have to ask as he replied immediately, "We took a beating. I'm estimating between eighteen- and twenty one hundred dead and around the same number wounded."

"We got about the same," Gabrielle added after him. "about four thousand casualties, with a third of that dead."

Next they all looked at Aurora and Gabrielle asked, "How did the Forlorn fare? It looks like they suffered heavy losses."

"They did," Aurora replied with a sigh. "It went exactly as I had planned, they threw their full weight against my center and it tells. I got around four thousand dead and a large part of the others wounded in some degree."

A deep sigh went through the group as Gabrielle quickly did the math, "So around nine-thousand dead and maybe fifteen-thousand wounded, not bad considering we were outnumbered nearly two to one. How did the other guys do?"

They all looked around them at the blood-soaked battlefield and for the first time they realized that they were literally standing on the dead. "From the looks of it," Ivan said as he nonchalantly plucked pieces of skin from his mace, "I'd say forty- to fifty thousand dead for the Meereenese and the rest captured. The Dothraki look to be wiped out or captured."

"That reminds me," Aurora said as she snapped her fingers at remembering something. Turning to Harry she added, "Harry, I got a present for you." This garnered his attention and Aurora continued with a knowing grin, "One of Mengo's bloodriders was an old friend of yours,"

"Horro," Harry growled as he guessed who it was, "I wondered where that slime bag slithered off to after we couldn't find him at Tyrosh."

"Well he showed up here and he and Mengo got themselves captured. He's yours after we take the city." Harry nodded his head in thanks and together they rode back to the front line to form up what remained of their army to march towards the city.

XXX

Oberyn stood upon the walls of Meereen with Dagmer and Alys next to him. The city had been secured and now all that remained was waiting for the army to arrive. Despite their confidence in the Ladies and in the army as a whole, they couldn't help but be a bit concerned. They hadn't watched the legions march off, but from what they had heard it had been a mighty host.

It was now quickly approaching evening and the sun was already getting lower in the sky and still no word had come until… "Look there," Dagmer said suddenly as he pointed to the edge of the canyon. In the softening light they could now see the vanguard of an army riding towards them.

Fifteen minutes later they could distinguish the black and gold banners flapping in the wind. "It's them," Alys sighed relieved while the infantry now marched into the canyon. It took nearly an hour before the army had fully entered the canyon and then the wagons with the wounded came in behind them.

As news of the advancing army spread through the city, the slave population, now set free by the Ironborn and the Pit fighters, surged out of the gates to welcome their liberators.

Meanwhile the Valyrian high command and their cavalry had moved towards the Dothraki camp and upon arrival, Aurora declared to them all, "Mengo and all of his riders are killed or captured, the Meereenese army has been destroyed and their city is taken, you have nowhere to go. If you surrender, your lives will be spared and we will take you with us to Valyria, where you will be free to build a new live for yourselves and live in freedom. If you refuse, we will leave you here to go where you want."

Leaving half their heavy cavalry behind to prevent anyone from making a stupid decision, Aurora and Gabrielle quickly led the others back to the front of their marching army. From halfway down the canyon, the freed slaves swamped both sides of the road and they threw their slave collars to the ground beneath the hooves and feet of the victorious army.

With cheers, applause and jubilations the Valyrians were welcomed into the city by its liberated slave population. The free peoples of the city huddled in their homes and despite the assurances from the Ironborn and Oberyn that they would not be harmed, they still feared for their lives.

Nightfall was near when they finally reached the gates of the city and there they were awaited by Dagmer, Alys, Oberyn and Yagathai. All four made a small bow as they welcomed the High Command to the city.

Ivan was the first to dismount, leaving his helmet hanging on his saddle and he walked up to the Sothoryi. Once he stood before him, looking slightly down on him, he grinned and said, "Good to see you again Yaga."

The Sothoryi nodded in agreement and raised his right arm, Ivan grinned and repeated the move, clasping his arm around Yagathai's. Then, surprising most others, both men beat their foreheads together hard before bursting out laughing. "It's been too long my friend," Ivan grinned, "I've got some stories to tell you."

"And not just to him apparently," Francine said mock-sternly from atop her white charger.

"And that Yaga," Ivan said after a raucous burst of laughter, "is my wife."

"I thought so," the Sothoryi said with a grin that showed a mouth full of pointed teeth, before they were distracted by the Ladies.

"So this is him Ivan?" Aurora asked from atop her black destrier.

"Ivan nodded and said, "He is, This is Yagathai, of the great People of the Dragon Flame."

"Is he now?" Gabrielle asked curiously, "And where, if I might ask did that name come from?"

With a knowing grin Ivan replied, "I think that's a story for another time, right now we should move into the city and secure the last bastion of Slaver's Bay before we stay out here all night."

"He's right," Aurora added, before addressing Yagathai, "Follow us to the Great Pyramid, you'll have a room there and we all want to hear your story."

"Yes Lady," the Sothoryi said with a nod and when they moved on, he followed them into the city.

Author's note :

And this was it, I hope you all liked the battle if so please let me know. I decided to split this chapter into two as the total combined was a bit long for my taste, even for a battle chapter.

The next part will deal with the aftermath of the battle and I hope to post it next week.

As you might have noticed, I have changed the title and the summary of the story, as I thought this would fit better to where I have gone with it.

Hope to see you all next week.


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